Soccer coach accused of lewd acts with girl

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A soccer coach was being held on $100,000 bail Friday on suspicion of felony lewd conduct with a 15-year-old female player, police said.

Ian M. Ebert, 26, was arrested Thursday in Los Gatos, where he now lives. At the time of the alleged crimes, he was coaching for the Strikers FC of Irvine, a private soccer club, said Lt. Julie Engen of the Irvine Police Department.

Irvine police launched an investigation Monday after a high school counselor received information about an inappropriate relationship between an adult and a female student, officials said.

‘The counselor was very prompt in notifying us,’ Engen said, and also informed the parents of the alleged victim.

The girl, who lives in Irvine, had intermittent contact with Ebert through her participation in club soccer, and the ‘inappropriate contact occurred between August 2012 and December 2012, while Ebert was living in the city working as a coach for the private club,’ Engen said.

Ebert also was as a coach for the Irvine Unified School District at two campuses between 2009 and 2012, police said. According to his biography on the Strikers website, Ebert was the junior varsity boys coach at Woodbridge High from 2009 to 2010 and the boys varsity coach at University High.

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-- Richard Winton