A former girl’s basketball coach at several local schools will stand trial on multiple counts of forcibly raping a 15-year-old girl in her Hermosa Beach home.
During a preliminary hearing at Torrance Courthouse Monday morning, a teenage girl testified that the accused, Timothy Lee Lucas, sexually assaulted her on three separate occasions in January and February of 2014. Lucas, through vigorous cross examination of the girl by his defense attorney, contended that the encounters were consensual.
A conviction on statutory rape charges would carry a considerably lighter prison sentence for Lucas than guilty verdicts on the forcible rape counts. If convicted on all counts, Lucas could face about 30 years in prison.
The alleged assaults occurred while Lucas was spending about two-thirds of each month at the Hermosa home, the victim told assistant district attorney Maren Dermody during questioning. Lucas had initially been dating the girl’s mother, then began serving as an informal caretaker for the mother, who was suffering from an undisclosed medical condition.
The victim testified that the former coach pressured her into a sexual relationship, urging her to abandon her then-boyfriend.
“When I was beginning to date my boyfriend, he was asking me to be unfaithful,” the victim said.
The mother was at home during each of the alleged assaults, but was under heavy sedation from painkillers, the teen testified. During the second encounter, the teen said she heard, but did not see, her sister come into the room, where Lucas allegedly used his hand to commit a sex act.
Hermosa Beach Police arrested Lucas, a 33-year-old Cypress resident, at Manhattan Beach Middle School on June 3. Lucas was working at the school as an administrative assistant at the time, and has since been placed on administrative leave.
In addition to MBMS, Lucas previously worked at Mira Costa High School and Bishop Montgomery. Lucas had been tapped to be the head coach of the girl’s basketball team at West Torrance High School, but he was still awaiting approval from the Torrance Unified School District Board of Education at the time of his arrest, according to Tammy Khan, public information officer for TUSD.
Hermosa Police learned of the alleged assaults when the victim and her family came forward on May 22. HBPD Det. Dean Garkow lead the investigation.
Shortly before arresting Lucas, officers arranged for the victim to place a recorded phone call from the Hermosa station house to Lucas, discussing the alleged sexual assaults from the previous year in an attempt to get Lucas to admit to the conduct.
A reading of portions of the transcript of the recording revealed the teen asking whether the sexual encounters had definitively ended, asking “When we had sex, was it just a one-time thing?” At one point, the teen said, “I miss you, and I would like to continue that stuff. I don’t know if you would, but it would be nice for me.”
Lucas’ defense attorney, Ronald Hedding, argued that the phone call revealed that while sex did occur, it was consensual.
“Nobody could make those statements in a case of forcible rape,” Hedding said to the court. “It defies logic.”
Hedding repeatedly questioned the witness about the tone of the phone call, asking why she would phrase her questions using relatively friendly language to describe alleged instances of forcible rape. The teen asserted that in the phone call she was indeed referring to “the three incidents” alleged in the complaint, and that any deficiencies in the call were due to her young age.
“Because I’m a kid, that’s how I am, that’s how I think,” the teen testified.
The presiding judge, Hon. T.K. Herman, ruled that the prosecution had presented enough evidence to hold Lucas to answer on all six charges he faces. Lucas remains in custody in lieu of $500,000 bail.
His next court date is set for Oct. 5. ER
