Prosecutors have amended their felony complaint filed against a youth basketball coach to include one more boy whom, they say, was touched inappropriately, bringing to nine the number of alleged victims in the case.
Jeremy Andre Haggerty, 34, is now charged with one additional count of lewd act upon a child.
Haggerty faces a total of 14 criminal charges including eight counts of sexual battery, five counts of lewd act upon a child and one count of attempted lewd act upon a child, according to the amended complaint.
The additional charge relates to an incident that allegedly occurred in Los Angeles County between Dec. 21, 2008 and Dec. 20, 2010.
Haggerty appeared Friday in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center where he entered a plea of not guilty.
He was scheduled to appear back in court Oct. 29 to set a date for a preliminary hearing. During a preliminary hearing, prosecutors will present evidence in the case, and the defense can respond; the judge can then decide if the case should go to trial.
Sgt. Brian Hudson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department Special Victims Unit said at a press conference earlier this month that detectives identified victims “going back as far as 2008.”
At the time of his arrest, Haggerty was living in Orange County and working at a school there.
In the Santa Clarita Valley, he worked at two schools as a basketball coach.
He is accused of sexually assaulting nine victims over the course of nearly a decade, who ranged in age between 14 and 17 years old.
If convicted as charged, he faces up to 14 years in state prison.
Detectives said last week they found no evidence the alleged incidents occurred on a local school campus, and all of the alleged incidents reportedly took place in one-on-one training sessions involving the coach and the player-victim.
661-287-5527
On Twitter
@jamesarthurholt
