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Coach Pleads Not Guilty to Sex With Girl, 14

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A volunteer wrestling coach at Moorpark High School pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he had sex with a 14-year-old female student.

Andrew Paul Fonseca, 23, of Moorpark faces two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, one count of oral copulation with a minor and one count of penetration with a foreign object.

Judge Kevin J. McGee granted a request by the defense to reduce bail from $75,000 to $50,000.

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Defense attorney Rob Helfund said Fonseca is a longtime resident of Moorpark, that he works there and has family there, and that he is unlikely to flee while on bail.

The suspect, who was arrested Thursday, remains in Ventura County Jail.

Fonseca is the second Ventura County coach in a month to be arrested on suspicion of having sex with a teenage student.

Chad Wenzlick Pridgen, a 30-year-old science teacher and soccer and tennis coach at Camarillo High School, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 33 counts of sex crimes involving nine students.

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