EmailPrintFormer Cal State Bakersfield assistant basketball coach Kevin Mays was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday after accepting a plea deal earlier this month on charges of pimping, possessing youth or child pornography and drug possession while armed.Mays, 33, had been set to face trial after California judge Tiffany Organ-Bowles found sufficient evidence to prosecute him in March. Mays pleaded no-contest to the three felony charges and also will be registered for life as a sex offender.Organ-Bowles also ruled that Mays would have his sentence reduced by 660 days as credit -- 330 days for good behavior and 330 for time already served in custody. The judge also ordered Mays to pay a still-undetermined amount as restitution to a confidential victim for related losses.David Torres, Mays' attorney, told ESPN on Thursday that his client took the deal to help restart his life. He added that Mays loved his time as a basketball coach at Cal State Bakersfield and was "deeply upset ... that his actions besmirched the program."Officials at the university declined comment to ESPN.The investigation into Mays began last year when an anonymous tipster emailed then-Cal State men's basketball coach Rod Barnes on Aug. 29, alleging that Mays had been trafficking a woman across multiple states for months.When he was arrested in September, Mays faced 11 felony and misdemeanor charges. He initially pleaded not guilty on all counts.In March, Kern County prosecutor Christine Antonios and police presented details about the relationship between Mays and the woman as well as other aspects of the alleged prostitution operation that spanned across California, Oregon and Las Vegas.Police found the woman through an online sex advertisement and ran a sting operation by setting up a "date" with her in a Sacramento hotel room, according to a police report and officers' testimony. When interviewed, she initially identified Mays to investigators as her "boyfriend" who "routinely covered the costs" for rental vehicles, hotels and flights when she traveled for sex work.Regarding the child pornography charge, a police forensic examiner testified in March that 28 videos found on Mays' phone, which investigators searched by obtaining a warrant, depicted sexual conduct with a minor. They were time-stamped between 2022 and 2024.Investigators also found weapons and drugs in Mays' car and apartment, according to police testimony and reports.
