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Ex-coach pleads guilty in Ecstasy case

By: Staff and wire reports - | Tuesday, September 12, 2006 1:23 AM PDT ∞

A former La Costa Canyon High girls water polo coach pleaded guilty Monday to possession for sale and transportation of Ecstasy.

Steve Moyer, 43, could face probation to four years in state prison when he is sentenced Nov. 1 by San Diego Superior Court Judge David Danielsen.

Moyer resigned from his part-time job coaching the Mavericks' varsity girls water polo team in June. He was a walk-on coach and did not teach at the school.

La Costa Canyon athletic director John Labeta said the school is in the process of hiring a replacement and recently began interviewing candidates.

Moyer was arrested in June at his Carlsbad home by agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. Working in cooperation with federal drug agents, Carlsbad police pulled Moyer over in a traffic stop in February, according to Deputy District Attorney Douglas Rose.

Police found 30 tablets of Ecstasy and 10.2 grams of cocaine in Moyer's car. Rose said police did not immediately arrest Moyer because agents wanted to complete a wider investigation first. Ecstasy is a synthetic psychoactive drug.

The married father of two admitted in court that the drugs were not for personal use but that he intended to sell or distribute them.

As part of his sentence, Moyer must register as a narcotics offender, according to the judge.

Deputy District Attorney Cari Phillips said a plea agreement was reached with Moyer and charges of possession for sale and transportation of cocaine were dismissed.

Moyer was allegedly heard ordering drugs in February during a phone call to a suspect whose phone was being monitored by federal drug officials as part of a drug investigation that included wiretapping, Rose said during Moyer's arraignment in June. The drug investigation dates back to 2004, and Moyer was not the primary target but came to the agents' attention after the phone call he placed to the primary suspect on the wiretapped phone.

Labeta said Moyer passed the district's background check, which included a drug test, physical exam and fingerprinting, in September 2005.

"There was nothing in his background that led us to believe we were going to have a problem," Labeta said.

-- Staff writer Matt Null and the City News Service contributed to this report.