Five girls. All between 12 and 14 years old. All players on the same middle school soccer team. All targeted by the same coach at the same after-school program.

In October 2025, a Banning jury convicted Juan Manuel Pantoja Troncoso, a former girls soccer coach in the Coachella Valley Unified School District, on multiple felony counts of sexual abuse of children. According to a report by Patch, Troncoso is facing more than 25 years in state prison and was awaiting sentencing at the time of the report. He was one of the lead coaches in an after-school program at Toro Canyon Middle School in Thermal when the abuse occurred in 2019.

At Easton & Easton, we represent survivors of sexual abuse in youth sports and school athletic programs throughout Southern California. Cases like this one, involving multiple victims, a school-sponsored program, and a coach operating within plain sight of other staff, raise serious questions about institutional responsibility that extend well beyond the conviction of one individual.

Key Takeaways

  • Juan Manuel Pantoja Troncoso, 30, was convicted in October 2025 by a Banning jury on three counts each of forcible lewd acts on a child and contacting a minor for the purpose of perpetrating a sexual offense, four counts of annoying a child, and one count of battery, with sentence-enhancing allegations of targeting multiple victims.
  • Troncoso was a lead coach in the After-School Education & Safety Program (ASES) at Toro Canyon Middle School in Thermal, Riverside County, when the abuse occurred in 2019.
  • Five victims were identified, all girls between the ages of 12 and 14 who were players on the school soccer team.
  • Testimony at trial included a fellow teacher who described Troncoso as having a preference for girls aged 12 to 14, and evidence that other girls refused to take the field for practice unless the principal coach was present due to their fear of Troncoso’s behavior.
  • Troncoso was dismissed by the Coachella Valley Unified School District following his arrest in 2020 and has been held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.
  • Survivors of school athletic program abuse may have civil claims against both the individual coach and the school district, depending on what administrators knew or should have known before and during the abuse.

The Conviction: What the Jury Found and What the Evidence Showed

Troncoso was convicted on nine counts total, with the jury deadlocking on only one misdemeanor count. The convictions include three counts of forcible lewd acts on a child, three counts of contacting a minor for the purpose of perpetrating a sexual offense, four counts of annoying a child, and one count of battery. Sentence-enhancing allegations of targeting multiple victims were also sustained.

The abuse took place in 2019 while Troncoso served as one of the lead coaches in the After-School Education & Safety Program (ASES) at Toro Canyon Middle School in Thermal. Deputy District Attorney Thomas Farnell presented accounts from five victims, each identified only by initials, describing what occurred during their interactions with Troncoso on campus.

The evidence painted a picture of a coach who exploited his access to young athletes across multiple settings, including soccer practices, a school-sponsored Halloween carnival, and other on-campus interactions. One girl testified that other students on the team refused to take to the soccer field unless the principal coach, Javier Perez, was present because they feared Troncoso’s behavior. A middle school teacher, Maria Sylva, testified that Troncoso had an apparent preference for girls aged 12 to 14.

The defense challenged the credibility of witnesses and argued that Sylva had inappropriately influenced the students before they reported the abuse. The jury rejected that theory on the overwhelming majority of counts. Troncoso, who had no prior documented felony convictions, faces sentencing of more than 25 years in state prison and remains held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.

What Staff Knew: Warning Signs That Preceded the Conviction

One of the most significant facts in this case for survivors considering civil claims is not the abuse itself, but what was visible to adults around Troncoso before and during it.

Trial testimony established that a teacher at the school had formed the view, based on her own observations, that Troncoso had a specific attraction to girls in the 12-to-14-year-old age range. That testimony did not emerge after the fact as a conclusion drawn from the charges. It reflected impressions formed during the period when Troncoso was actively coaching.

Separately, the principal soccer coach testified that some of the girls on the team refused to take the field for practice unless he was present, out of fear of Troncoso. Peer coaches and teachers at an after-school program are not bystanders. They are colleagues with an ongoing duty of supervision. When student athletes signal through their behavior that they are afraid of a coach, that signal has legal weight.

The question of whether those observations were formally reported to school administrators, and whether administrators took any action in response, is central to a potential civil claim against the Coachella Valley Unified School District. California’s mandatory reporting law, codified at Penal Code Section 11165.7, requires school employees to report known or reasonably suspected child abuse to law enforcement or a child protective agency. When that obligation is not met, or when reports are made but administrators fail to act, the institution’s civil exposure grows.

After-School Programs and the Oversight Gap: Why ASES Settings Carry Unique Risk

Toro Canyon Middle School’s after-school soccer program operated under the After-School Education & Safety Program (ASES), a state-funded initiative administered by the California Department of Education that provides before- and after-school programming for students in kindergarten through ninth grade. ASES programs are designed to provide safe, supervised environments during hours when working parents cannot be present.

The institutional risk in after-school settings is structural. Students are in a transitional period, between the formal school day and home supervision, where accountability can be diffuse. Coaching staff in after-school programs may be employed under different contract structures than classroom teachers, with less formal oversight and fewer touchpoints with school administration. Access to students can be more informal and less documented than during the regular school day.

This is not unique to ASES. After-school sports programs nationally have been identified as higher-risk environments for abuse precisely because the boundary between formal instruction and informal interaction is more fluid. The SafeSport program, created in response to the epidemic of abuse in youth athletics, has developed screening and supervision standards that many after-school programs have yet to implement systematically.

For survivors, this structural context matters in civil litigation. A school district that operated an after-school sports program without adequate screening of coaches, without clear supervision protocols, or without a functioning reporting system for student concerns about coach behavior, may have created the conditions under which Troncoso’s abuse was possible. That institutional failure is separate from, and actionable alongside, the individual criminal conduct.

Civil Claims for Survivors of School Athletic Program Abuse in California

A criminal conviction establishes that the abuse occurred. It does not automatically resolve the question of civil accountability, and it does not compensate survivors for the harm they experienced.

Under California law, survivors of childhood sexual abuse in school athletic settings may bring civil claims against the individual coach and against the school district when the district’s negligence contributed to the abuse. Negligence in these cases typically involves failures in hiring and background screening, failure to respond to observable warning signs, failure to enforce supervision policies, and failure to report known or suspected abuse to law enforcement or Child Protective Services as required by law.

California’s Assembly Bill 218 (AB 218), enacted in 2020, eliminated the civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse claims that had not already expired, giving survivors meaningful time to come forward. The law also allows courts to award up to three times the compensatory damages when a covered entity such as a school district engaged in concealment or cover-up of known abuse. Each of the five identified victims in this case, as well as any other former players who experienced abuse that was not part of the criminal charges, may have independent civil claims worth evaluating.

What Survivors of Youth Sports Abuse Should Know About Their Options

You don’t have to have been one of the five named victims

The criminal case identified five victims by initial. The after-school soccer program at Toro Canyon Middle School involved many more students across multiple seasons. Any former player who experienced inappropriate contact, grooming behavior, or abuse by Troncoso, whether or not it was reported at the time, may have a civil claim independent of the criminal proceedings.

Contact law enforcement if you haven’t already

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the Banning Justice Center handled the criminal prosecution. If you have information about additional victims or additional conduct not addressed in the trial, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department are the appropriate contacts.

Seek trauma-informed support

The RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). The Desert Arc Resource Center and other Coachella Valley community organizations can provide referrals to local counseling and support services for survivors and their families.

Preserve what you remember

Write down the timeline of events, the names of coaches, administrators, and staff who were present, and any complaints or concerns you or your family expressed to school officials at the time. Documentation of reports that were dismissed or ignored is directly relevant to an institutional negligence claim against the district.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the Coachella Valley Unified School District be sued for Troncoso’s abuse?

It depends on the facts of each survivor’s situation, but there is a strong basis for evaluating district liability. When a teacher described Troncoso’s apparent preference for young girls and when students refused to take the field unless supervised by another coach, those were observable warning signs. Whether administrators received and acted on those signals, and whether adequate screening was conducted before Troncoso was placed in a coaching role, are questions a civil attorney can investigate through discovery.

Does a criminal conviction help a civil case?

Yes, in meaningful ways. A conviction establishes the facts of the abuse to a very high standard of proof. In a subsequent civil case, the defendant cannot relitigate whether the abuse occurred. The civil case focuses on damages and on the liability of any third parties, such as the school district, for failing to prevent or report the abuse.

What if I was a player on the team but was not one of the five identified victims?

Your civil options are not limited to what was charged in the criminal case. If you experienced grooming, inappropriate contact, or abuse that was not reported or not included in the charges, you may still have an independent civil claim. An attorney can evaluate your specific experience confidentially.

How long do I have to file a civil claim in California?

AB 218 removed the civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse claims that had not already expired. Even if significant time has passed since the 2019 abuse, your civil options may still be open. An attorney can confirm the specific deadlines that apply to your circumstances.

What damages are available in a civil school sports abuse case?

Recoverable damages can include therapy and mental health treatment costs, lost income or diminished earning capacity, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. Where the school district engaged in concealment of known abuse, AB 218 allows courts to award up to three times the compensatory damages. The value of any individual claim depends on its specific facts.

Easton & Easton’s Commitment to Survivors of School Athletic Program Abuse

At Easton & Easton, we are deeply committed to supporting survivors of childhood sexual abuse in cases involving school athletic programs, after-school activities, and youth sports organizations throughout Southern California. The conviction of Juan Manuel Pantoja Troncoso is an important step toward accountability. But the criminal sentence does not address whether the Coachella Valley Unified School District failed the five girls who trusted it to keep them safe.

Our approach combines compassionate, trauma-informed advocacy with thorough investigation of the institutional failures that allowed abuse to occur and continue. We understand that survivors of school athletic abuse often face ongoing questions about whether anyone in authority could have stopped what happened sooner. Civil litigation is the mechanism through which those questions get answered.

Attorney Saul Wolf has extensive experience handling civil claims related to youth sports sexual abuse and school sexual abuse across a wide range of settings, including school athletic programs, after-school organizations, and youth leagues throughout Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, and across California.

Easton & Easton remains dedicated to helping survivors seek accountability, clarity, and justice while advocating for stronger institutional responsibility within the school programs and organizations that serve children throughout Southern California.

If you or someone you know may have been affected by abuse in the Coachella Valley Unified School District, at Toro Canyon Middle School, or in any other school athletic program in Southern California, we invite you to contact Easton & Easton for a confidential consultation. Our team is here to listen, answer your questions, and help you understand your options.