Coach Won’t Be Charged in Diuretics Case

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office announced Monday that it will not file criminal charges against a Chatsworth football coach who gave over-the-counter diuretics to members of his team of 10- and 11-year-old boys.

Ron Fidler, who was coach of the Chatsworth Chiefs Mity-Mite team in the Valley Youth Conference, said he gave the pills to the boys to help them keep their weight below 115 pounds, the maximum under division rules.

Claudine Dodd, whose 10-year-old son was on the team, had filed a criminal complaint against Fidler.

“We found there was insufficient evidence to prove child endangerment,” said David Knokey, assistant supervisor for the north Valley branch of the city attorney’s office. “The one-time use of the diuretic was insufficient to establish anything that could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Last week, the conference’s executive board suspended Fidler for the rest of the 1986 season and put him on probation for 1987.