Sixty days in the local jail. Registration as a sex offender for life.
August 17, 2008 - Barry Sacks, 49, a Peninsula High School walk-on coach who also runs youth athletic camps , was arrested on July 16, accused of nine misdemeanor counts of child molestation. The charges fuel "mixed emotions.
Several former female athletes who Sacks has coached or worked with declined to be interviewed for this article, but said in e-mails that he is kind, warm and incapable of such conduct.The alleged acts involved nine girls, who were all 15 and 16 years old and involve "inappropriate touching" of a sexual nature.
Some of them have lashed out at the alleged victims, accusing them of trying to oust Sacks, and at the Daily Breeze, for ruining his life by publishing a story about his court case.
Sacks was fired from his coaching job in June. He has also coached at Bishop Montgomery and Palos Verdes high schools. He is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 27 in Torrance Superior Court.
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ONLINE RESOURCE: Daily Breeze reporter Denise Nix maintains a blog to track South Bay crimes in the courts called Court Tracker. It's the kind of responsible public service that all newspapers should provide.
Reader Reaction to the Sacks story and how Nix found out about the charges.
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GUILTY PLEA & SENTENCING October 28 - Sacks pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of child molestation and was sentenced to 60 days in jail. Sacks can serve the time in a city jail instead of a county facility, and will likely do so. He will be on probation five years.
He will undergo 52 weeks of sex offender counseling, In exchange for his plea, seven other counts against Sacks were dismissed by prosecutors. Sacks will also have to REGISTER AS A SEX OFFENDER FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE.
