Check mates District offers help to victims’ families
LAX COURTHOUSE — A former Santa Monica High School coach pleaded guilty on Wednesday to nine felony charges related to sexual relationships he had with three teenage girls.
Mike Hearn, 38, was an assistant basketball and football coach at Samohi when he was arrested on June 2, 2004. He was subsequently freed on $42,000 bond.
Hearn pleaded guilty to six counts of unlawful sex with a 17-year-old girl, two counts for having oral sex and performing a lewd act upon a 15-year-old girl, and one count for sharing pornographic materials with a third girl, also 15.
District Attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison said the court has indicated Hearn will face up to two years in prison, the low end of what may have been a maximum of eight years had he been tried and found guilty by a jury.
Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner is expected to sentence Hearn on Oct. 11.
School district administrators maintained the 17-year-old girl wasn’t a Samohi student, but said the other two victims were. The girls’ identities were not released because they are minors who are victims of sex crimes.
“We will give them any kind of support they need that we can provide,” — Deasy said
Hearn, who is married and has children in local schools, had been placed on home assignment during the court proceedings.
Neither Hearn’s attorney, James Brewer, nor the prosecutor, Kelly Read, would comment on the case.
John Deasy, superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, said Hearn was a seasonal employee who was not rehired after the charges were filed against him.
Deasy said the Santa Monica public schools will continue to offer its support in any way it can to the families who have been affected by Hearn’s crimes.
Hearn’s guilty plea comes just before his case was supposed to go to trial, although it had been pushed back for about two months. A status conference in the case was held at the end of August 2004. Hearn was ordered not to harass or assault the three victims and stay at least 100 yards away from the three girls and the Samohi campus.
The victims have been treated at the Stuart House in Santa Monica, which often deals with sexual abuse cases. The Stuart House is overseen by officials from the Rape Treatment Center, based at the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.
Robison said Hearn made no plea agreement with the DA’s office.
“He threw himself at the mercy of the court,” Robison said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 6, 2005. Read the original PDF.