Former Sobrato football coach expected to enter plea in
mid-August, he’s on leave
San Martin – No settlement was reached between the prosecuting attorney and the lawyer of a former high school football coach accused of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and felony oral copulation with a minor.
Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Steve Fein said he met with the attorney representing Jeff Patterson, 32, in a routine court procedure to discuss the case last Thursday.
Patterson is free on $10,000 and on leave from his job as a math teacher at Sobrato High School. The school has hired a new head football coach.
Fein said there was no resolution on Thursday, so the next step will be for Patterson to enter a plea to the charges. His next court appearance is scheduled for mid-August.
Patterson surrendered to Morgan Hill Police April 5 after Victoria Brown, supervisor of the Santa Clara County DA’s sexual assault team, filed charges against him after months of investigation.
The alleged sexual encounter between Patterson and a 17-year-old female Sobrato student took place Nov. 4. According to court records, the girl told police Patterson “urged” her to forge a note to excuse herself from her sixth period class. She allegedly forged the note and left the campus after her fifth period class. She told police Patterson picked her up in his car on Burnett Avenue down the street from the school.
Patterson allegedly drove the girl to the UPS store, then to an empty parking lot off of a county road, where, according to the girl, she performed oral sex.
The girl’s father reported the incident to police four days later, telling the police his daughter and Patterson had had consensual sex. He took her to the police station, where she placed two calls to Patterson at his Hollister home while police recorded them. The next morning, she returned to the police station and placed another recorded call to Patterson, this time to his Sobrato classroom.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 Ext. 202 or at [email protected].
