Coach Charged With Molesting Stepdaughter : Crime: Corona del Mar official is arrested after victim helps officers tape conversations. Abuses occurred over four years, investigators say.

The head football coach at Corona del Mar High School was arrested Tuesday on charges of molesting his stepdaughter for four years, after she helped police tape conversations between the two.

Police arrested Mark Aubrey Schuster, 48, at 8:40 p.m. on Jamboree Road as he was driving home from the school, Sgt. Andy Gonis said.

The victim, whose name was withheld, told police on Monday that Schuster coerced her to have sex with him if, for example, she received poor school grades.

“If she got Ds, it would result in ‘payments.’ If he bought her a gift, it would result in ‘payments,’ ” Gonis said. “This happened numerous times. This is four years’ worth. She was living with him during the entire time.”

Police said detectives corroborated the victim’s allegations by taping a phone conversation and an in-person meeting between the victim and the suspect, Gonis said.

The victim notified police just three days after she turned 18. She had been afraid Schuster would retaliate if she spoke while he still had custody of her, Gonis said.

Schuster gained custody of the girl about four years ago when he and his wife separated. Their divorce recently was settled.

Schuster was arrested without incident and investigators searched his home on Balboa Island, office and vehicle, Gonis said. He remained at Newport Beach city jail on $25,000 bail.

After the district’s attorney’s office filed charges Tuesday against Schuster for a total of 16 counts of lewd acts, a Harbor Municipal Court judge signed a warrant for his arrest.

The superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District also was notified of the investigation before the evening arrest.

According to a 1994 profile of the high school’s coaching staff in a football game program, Schuster has 22 years of experience coaching football, including 14 years at the high school varsity level and nine years as a defensive secondary coach at the collegiate level.

He also coached basketball for 19 years, four as a head coach, and has been a track coach for 18 years.

Jerry Jelnick, Corona del Mar’s athletic director, said he was completely surprised by Schuster’s arrest and said he wanted to hear the facts from police and Schuster himself.

“I’ve known him a year and a half, and he’s done a great job with the football program and the campus,” Jelnick said.

In the profile, Schuster wrote a short essay extolling the virtues of hard work and self-control.

“I firmly believe that success comes to those who are committed to it, who are willing to work hard and climb over every obstacle to complete any task because they gave their word that they would. . . . Men with this kind of inner strength are described by such words as: trustworthy, loyal, reliable, dependable, responsible, dedicated, stable and men of integrity.

“Those who cannot control their personal lives and feelings are least likely to find success. . . .”

Schuster attended Citrus Junior College, where he earned All-American honors as a defensive back and later went to Cal Poly where he won a Centennial Award as a defensive back.

Schuster also has another son and daughter.