BRYAN SHEPHERD: Ex-Bellflower HS Coach Sent To Prison for 28 Years

Former Bellflower High School Coach Bryan E. Shepherd is heading to prison for 28 years.

By Brian Hews
Justice took a swift toll on a former Bellflower High School track and girls’ basketball coach after he was sent to state prison for 28 years on Monday for molesting a teenage girl over a five-year span starting back when she was just 13 years old.
Bryan E. Shepherd was sentenced by Norwalk Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza in a case that sent shockwaves around the popular local campus.
The prosecutor in the case, Deputy District Attorney Jessica Tillson, said the 49-year-old Shepherd was imposed his sentence by Judge Espinoza after “impact statements” were made by the victim and her mother and the victim’s boyfriend.
Shepherd pleaded no contest earlier this year to continuous sexual abuse of a child and forcible lewd acts with a child. The 28-year sentence was part of a negotiated settlement of the case.
Since Shepherd objected to restitution, there will be a hearing on that issue on April 23, Tillson said.
Shepherd was charged on Dec. 21, 2011. He has been in custody since this arrest on Dec. 20, 2011, by investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau.
Although Shepherd was a high school coach, authorities said the crimes did not occur at the school. The victim was molested from the time she as 13 in 2005 until she was 17 in 2010.
The case was widely covered by media members throughout Southern California and beyond.