Former basketball coach from Costa Mesa charged with unlawful sex with minors

A Costa Mesa man who is a former Orange County basketball coach is facing felony charges of lewd and sexual acts with minors, court records show.

Carlos Juarez, 44, was arrested Thursday outside his home in the 1300 block of Adams Avenue after four people reported incidents they said happened in 2009, the Irvine Police Department said.

The Orange County district attorney’s office filed 16 charges against him April 9, initiating a warrant for his arrest. The charges include 11 counts of lewd acts against a minor, three counts of having unlawful sex with a minor and one count each of sexual penetration with a foreign object and oral copulation of a person younger than 16, court documents show.

Juarez was booked into Orange County Jail with bail set at $100,000 and was released after posting bond Friday, according to public records. He is scheduled to appear in court May 10, court records show.

The alleged victims, who do not know one another, were 11 to 14 years old when the sexual acts are said to have occurred, according to authorities.

Irvine police alleged that Juarez “groomed the victims from a young age, with the incidents beginning years after his first contact with them.”

The suspect met the girls through his work as a basketball coach for an unidentified club team, police said. It’s unclear whether all the girls were with the same club.

Authorities said there may be additional victims.

The case is being investigated by the Irvine, Costa Mesa and Tustin police departments and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Anyone with information about the case can contact Irvine police Det. John Sanders at (949) 724-7233 or jsanders@cityofirvine.org.

UPDATES:

This article was originally published at 8:20 p.m. April 14 and was later updated with additional information.