Ex-Bellflower High coach pleads no contest to sex abuse charges

A former Bellflower High School girls' track and basketball coach pleaded no contest Friday to the "continuous sexual abuse" of a teenage girl, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

Bryan E. Shepherd, 49, began molesting the girl when she was 13, prosecutors said. The abuse continued for five years. Shepherd faces up to 28 years in state prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced on March 25.

Shepherd entered the no contest plea at a pretrial hearing Friday. He has been in custody since Dec. 20, 2011, when he was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Special Victims Bureau. 

Although Shepherd was a high school coach, none of the alleged sexual abuse took place at Bellflower High, authorities said.

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-- Jack Dolan