Former youth soccer coach sentenced for seeking underage sex

SEATTLE (AP) — A former youth soccer coach has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison after seeking sex with a person he believed was a 12-year-old girl, but was an undercover agent.

Kuldip Singh Mahal, 47, was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release in Seattle on Monday in addition to the prison time.

Mahal sent sexually explicit photos and messages to an undercover federal agent posing as the young girl, according to a news release by the U.S. Department of Justice. Mahal, from Surrey, B.C., was then arrested last February when he entered the U.S. to meet who he thought was the young girl at a park in Burlington, Washington, the release says.

Mahal was a volunteer coach for an Under-16 soccer team in British Columbia.