Former Coach Denies He Had Sex With Teen

A former Corona del Mar High School football coach was at times tearful and defiant as he denied in court Thursday allegations that he had sex with his adopted teenage daughter as her “payments” for poor grades or items he bought her.

Mark Aubrey Schuster, 49, said he was a hard-driving parent who referred to household chores as “payments” for his purchases of clothes or other merchandise. But he repeatedly denied allegations that he fondled his daughter for years and later demanded she have sex with him regularly.

“I love her, but it pretty much hurts,” Schuster said, his voice cracking.

Schuster, on trial in Orange County Superior Court, has pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and a single count of oral copulation with a minor--charges that that could bring a prison term of up to six years if he is convicted.

The daughter, now 19, testified last week that Schuster began fondling her during playful wrestling matches and later had sexual intercourse with her starting when she was 15. She said he tied her up during the sex encounters, using handcuffs and a bathrobe belt later found in his bedroom.

She was Schuster’s stepdaughter until he adopted her at age 8. She later moved with him to Newport Beach in 1994 after Schuster and her mother divorced. The allegations cover 16 months beginning in June 1994.

On the witness stand, Schuster denied each of the charges, without elaboration. He said he believed the daughter might have been a “pawn” of his ex-wife.

Schuster sobbed as he recounted a bitter argument with his daughter, then 17, just before she reported the alleged sex payments to police. After jurors left the courtroom during a break, Schuster approached sympathetic relatives, wiping his eyes with a tissue. “Big, tough football coach, huh?” he said.

On the witness stand, Schuster found himself in the embarrassing position of publicly describing his sexual practices with women and admitting he lied on his job application when he wrote he was part of a celebrated Army unit that fought in the Vietnam War.

Schuster also admitted he deceived students and fellow coaches with repeated tales of his exploits in the war, even though he was part of the California National Guard and never saw combat.

“I don’t know why I did it. It was stupid,” Schuster said. He said he met returning wounded soldiers and later retold their bloody war stories as if they were his.

But Schuster insisted he was telling the truth in denying the sex allegations.

He contended that authorities had misconstrued remarks he made during two secretly taped conversations with his daughter.

Schuster appeared to make several incriminating comments during taped conversations, which were arranged by Newport Beach police investigators.

Schuster said, for example, that the two were not discussing sex but talking about their former weekly restaurant outings when the daughter said, “I never want to do it anymore.”

At another point on the tape, he acknowledges the payments, but he said in court he was referring to chores around the house.

Schuster testified he was confused when the daughter mentioned sex during the conversations. He said he assumed she was referring to his insistence that she stop dating other men without telling her boyfriend, who was away in the Navy.

Schuster said he had used the robe tie and handcuffs seized from his bedroom during foreplay with his ex-wife and a girlfriend. He said he once tied up his daughter, but only during a playful wrestling match.