Former Seal Beach youth sports coach Scott Durzo on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, entered guilty pleas to 17 felony counts related to sexually abuse a boy many years ago. His plea came roughly four years and seven months after his arrest by the Seal Beach.
Before his guilty plea, Durzo was out on bail. The courthouse website reports he has been remanded, meaning he is now in jail. However, his name did not appear in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s database of county jail inmates.
His next court date is scheduled for Dec. 28 for a “Firearms Reqlinquishment” hearing. Michelle Van Der LInden, spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s office, confirmed that such a hearing is a standard procedure when a person who lawfully owns a firearm is convicted of a felony.
Durzo could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in state prison and face mandatory lifetime registration as a sex offender, according to Van Der Linden.
However, news reports say he will be sentenced to three years.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 28, 2019.
Last Friday’s guilty pleas were based on crimes that took place on or around May 5, 2005, Oct. 4, 2006, and Oct. 4, 2008, according to the Orange County Superior Court website.
Durzo’s pleaded guilty to nine counts of led or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age, seven counts of lewd acts upon a child age 14 or 15 and one count of sodomy on a person under 16 years of age, according to the Orange County Superior Court website
The court dismissed three counts: two counts of a lewd act upon a child 14 or 15 that allegedly occurred on or around Jan. 13, 2003, and one count of exhibition of lewd material to a minor that allgedly occurred on May 1, 2006, according to the Orange County Superior Court website
Before his arrest on May 7, 2014, Durzo ran and operated “Scott Durzo’s – Total Sport Camp,” which served children in the Seal Beach, Surfside, Rossmoor, Los Alamitos, Los Altos, Long Beach, Cypress, and Huntington Beach areas.
He was 49 when he was arrested.
Durzo’s case spent years winding its way through the legal system. He was first arraigned in May 2014.
In June 2014, Durzo was released on $250,000 bail. Electronic monitoring was not a condition of his release.
His preliminary hearing, which determined if his case would go to trial at all, began Aug. 17, 2015, and ended Nov. 20, 2015, with the decision that the case would go to trial.
The jury trial was scheduled to start Sept. 27, 2017, but the trial date was canceled and rescheduled many times until Durzo entered his guilty pleas last week.
In June 2014, Durzo was released on $250,000 bail. Electronic monitoring was not a condition of his release.
