O.C. swim coach gets 16 months in sex assault case

An Orange County swim instructor has been sentenced to 16 months in state prison for sexually assaulting two teenage females he met through coaching, authorities said Tuesday.

Todd Robert Sousa, 39, co-owned and taught classes for a swim school that offered lessons for children and adults, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

He was accused of assaulting two 15-year-olds at an Orange County hotel in September 2009, prosecutors said. He had sex with one of the victims after she turned 16.

He pleaded guilty in June to six felony counts of lewd acts upon a child and one felony count of unlawful sexual intercourse.

In a separate case, Sousa pleaded guilty in October 2011 to 13 felony counts of lewd acts on a child and three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, prosecutors said.

In that case, he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old in an office, an equipment closet and in his car, according to prosecutors. He also provide alcohol to the victim before having sex with her.

Prosecutors said Sousa was the girl’s swim instructor when he assaulted her. The incidents took place between April 1, 2010, and Feb. 18, 2011.

Sousa was sentenced in that case to 16 months in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration.

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