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	Ex-Coach, Youth Pastor Sentenced on Underage Sex Counts Sandler, 45, Coached Volleyball, Wrestling at St. Helena High NBC 11 July 23, 2008 http://www.nbc11.com/newsarchive/16971319/detail.html NAPA, Calif. — Former St. Helena High School coach Herschel Sandler was sentenced to nine months in the Napa County jail and five years probation Tuesday for two counts of oral copulation with two girls younger than 18 years of age 10 years ago. Sandler, 45, a wrestling and volleyball coach at the school, was arrested April 2 and pleaded no contest in May to the two charges. Chief Deputy District Attorney John Goold said Wednesday afternoon the prosecution asked for a year in county jail and the defense asked for no jail time. Doctors who did a psychological exam on Sandler recommended probation, Goold said. Napa County Superior Court Judge Rodney Stone imposed the 270-day term, Goold said. Sandler was charged with committing oral copulation with a girl younger than 18 between March 2, 1996, and March 1, 1999; two counts of oral copulation with a girl younger than 16 between March 21, 1997, and March 20, 1998; and having sex with a girl younger than 16 between March 21, 1997, and March 20, 1998. Two of those charges were dismissed in May. The offenses were reported to police on Jan. 28, 2008, and on Nov. 6, 2007. The complaint alleged Sandler committed similar sexual misconduct against other girls, including other teenage girls and other volleyball players, and that evidence includes witnesses and admissions by Sandler. Cathy Capponi, secretary to Allan Gordon, Superintendent of the St. Helena Unified School District, said Sandler coached the girls' varsity volleyball team at the high school and the boys' wrestling team at the high school and middle school between March 1995 and October 2007 when he resigned. He also was a youth pastor at St. Helena Catholic Church. Sandler must turn himself in at the jail on Aug. 22.
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