Late yesterday Torrance, California was relieved. A high school coach who had been molesting a over 20 students has been found guilty.
Snider taught at Torrance High School and worked as the wrestling coach in 1995, 1996 and from 2013 to 2015. He was convicted of almost 30 counts of “lewd acts” with children and 8 other misdemeanor counts of molestation.
The conviction comes after a long dramatic trial where a number of victims testified that he had touched their genitalia under the pretense of “skin inspections” according to LA Times report from the DA’s office.
He’s currently looking at a possible sentence of 73 years to life.
A number of victims took the stand and graphically described for the jurors what their coach would request and how they felt during the incident.
Snider himself claimed that the nude inspections were to maintain sound hygiene and reduce skin infections that occur among wrestlers. He claimed the checks weren’t sexual in nature.
“Hindsight is 20/20,” he said, in testimony documented by the newspaper. “It was a poor choice. I really, truly didn’t think I was doing anything wrong.”
Prosecutor team said the school had learned of the abuse after the students told some of their rivals about the strange nude skin checks.
Most of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit were wrestling team members at Torrance High School from 2013 to 2015. One was a student at Madrona Middle School, where he alleges Snider sodomized him around 1990 and 1991.
Sentencing will be taking place October 28th.
