Soccer Coach Who Molested Girl Sentenced

A San Jacinto youth soccer coach who molested a preteen girl was sentenced Friday to three years in state prison and ordered to register as a convicted sex offender.

Eric Daniel Rath, 54, pleaded guilty last month to lewd acts on a child under 14 years old under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.

Superior Court Judge Timothy Hollenhorst at the Banning Justice Center imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.

Because he will have to register as a sex offender, Rath will be limited on the types of employment he may obtain, and he will be required to report his location to law enforcement whenever he changes residence. The judge additionally ordered the defendant to have zero contact with the victim for a minimum of 10 years.

Rath was arrested on July 11 following a sheriff’s investigation into his illicit interactions with the girl, identified in court documents only as “S.U.”

According to investigators, the defendant groped and performed other unspecified sex acts on the child in early July. The location of the molestation and whether the victim was a soccer player were not disclosed.

Rath was a walk-on coach for the San Jacinto Leadership Academy, a military-type middle school within the San Jacinto Unified School District where he began coaching in February. He resigned immediately prior to his arrest.

Social media profiles indicate Rath was additionally involved in coaching girls’ soccer in Menifee and Temecula.

He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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