Football Coach Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Charges : Courts: Ventura High’s Harvey Kochel is accused of having an affair with a female student.

Ventura High School football Coach Harvey Kochel pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 12 felony counts stemming from allegations that he had a seven-month affair with a student from his health class. The girl was 15 when the alleged relationship began.

Kochel, 48, denied charges that--if proven--could hand the winningest coach in Ventura High football history a mandatory prison sentence of up to six years.

Kochel’s preliminary hearing has been set for Nov. 10.

Free on his own recognizance, Kochel left Ventura County Municipal Court without commenting, squinting into the lights of TV cameras as he strode to his lawyer’s car.

“He’s handling it pretty well in that he’s receiving a great deal of emotional support from his church,” defense attorney Louis B. Samonsky Jr. said later. “But it’s a stressful, difficult situation.”

Samonsky said Kochel remains suspended from his job of 12 years as Ventura High football coach and is looking for work--any work--to pay the bills until his case is resolved. Kochel has decided to forgo his salary rather than post a bond that would repay the salary to the Ventura Unified School District if he is convicted, Samonsky said.

A conviction in this case could force Kochel out of teaching permanently, Samonsky said.

“Most people who go through this system do not suffer a job loss and career loss and loss of (teaching) license,” Samonsky said.

Kochel’s sexual relationship with the girl began about Feb. 11 and took place at Kochel’s home, Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra T. Brewer said. Prosecutors have not identified the alleged victim, who is now 16.

She had taken Kochel’s health class in the 1991-1992 school year--her freshman year--and was involved with the school’s athletic program at the time of the affair, Brewer said.

The acts between the coach and his former pupil ended Sept. 25, just a few days before Kochel turned himself in to Ventura police and some time after the girl’s parents began noticing a change in her attitude, Brewer said.

“It’s a little difficult when you have teen-age kids in general to know whether this is a phase she’s going through, or what,” Brewer said. “It took a few months for them to focus. She was being a little more independent-acting, and they didn’t know what the problem was, but one of the things any parent would look to is a kid’s associates.”

Unable to pinpoint the problem, the parents searched the girl’s room, Brewer said. There, they found letters that Kochel reportedly had written to her, Brewer said.

Since Kochel’s arrest Sept. 30, prosecutors have dug further into the allegations, and the girl has been cooperating, Brewer said.

Prosecutors have clarified the time and conduct outlined in the criminal complaint, increasing the original number of charges from seven to 12, Brewer said.

The modified complaint accuses Kochel of one count of committing a lewd or lascivious act with a minor, two counts of oral copulation with a person under age 16, three counts of oral copulation with a person under age 18, five counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under age 18 and one count of unlawful penetration.

The new complaint also includes a special allegation that the crimes were committed while Kochel occupied a position of special trust, Brewer said.

If proven, that allegation would preclude a court from granting Kochel probation--automatically requiring a state prison sentence, Brewer said.

Brewer said her office is still investigating complaints about Kochel made by other young women, but she would not give details.

Kochel, a 1962 Ventura High School graduate, took over the school’s struggling football program in 1981.

By the time of Kochel’s arrest, his career record with the Cougars was 77-45-5, and the team had won all three games at that point in the 1992 season.

Now, however, his attention is focused on his case, Samonsky said.

“There’s a number of things that have to be done in assisting me with the case (and) he’s helping me with that,” Samonsky said. “It keeps him pretty darn busy. . . . We have to assess the new charges, see what their theories are and make a decision as to how we deal with it.”