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	Coach Sentenced to 9 Months for Sex with Female Students By Marsha Durgan Napa Valley Register July 23, 2008 http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/07/23/news/local/doc4887aff1373f3947338465.txt "I knew it was wrong. I enjoyed the attention, but I let it go too far," says former St. Helena High wrestling, volleyball coach The former St. Helena High School wrestling and volleyball coach and youth pastor convicted of sexually molestation two of his students was sentenced Wednesday to 270 days in Napa County Jail and five years probation.. The probation department recommended the court find that Herschel Sandler, 45, had served his time and allow him to leave the courtroom a free man. Napa County Superior Court Judge Rodney Stone, however, disagreed, ordering Sandler to serve the nine months in the county jail. He must also register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Stone said the two teen female victims were especially vulnerable, and Sandler used his position of trust to take sexual advantage of them. When Sandler was arrested last April, he was charged with two counts of oral copulation with a minor under 16, one count of oral copulation with a minor under 18, and one count of a lewd act with minor under 16. Although the molestations happened almost a decade ago, the victims did not come forward until earlier this year. Sandler pleaded no contest last May to two counts of oral copulation. Part of the plea bargain was he would not serve state prison time, according to the Napa County District Attorney’s Office. The victims were ages 15 and 16 when the assaults happened, and Sandler was 33. The molestations happened at his office at the school and inside his car between 1996-99, according to court records. Both victims told investigators the sex was consensual, adding he never forced himself on them. The girls did tell authorities, however, that Sandler did come onto them with sexual advances. The 15-year-old victim told police she considered Sandler to be "my mentor, my coach and the primary adult figure in my life," according to an evaluation done by the county probation department before Sandler’s sentencing. Sandler told probation officers one of the victims pursued him in a romantic way and "I found her advancements flattering." Sandler admitted to kissing the victims and allowing it to escalate. "I knew it was wrong. I enjoyed the attention, but I let it go too far," the report stated, adding, he said he took one of the victims to the movies and noticed she "was coming on stronger and stronger." He described one of the victims as "aggressive and provocative. I did nothing to start it." He said that it did not happen the way the victims said it did, "but I took the plea (bargain) to protect my family." Sandler stopped coaching in 2004. He also is no longer a youth pastor at a St. Helena church. The court ordered Sandler to turn himself into the county jail on Aug. 22, to begin serving his sentence.
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