Former California youth soccer coach faces child pornography charges, feds say

A former youth soccer coach from California is facing multiple child pornography charges, according to federal authorities.

Mark Phillip Oster, 61, of Huntington Beach was a coach and referee in the American Youth Soccer Organization from 2015 to 2021. He was indicted for distributing, producing and possessing child pornography, the Justice Department said in a news release Thursday.

Oster was arrested June 30 by FBI agents and charged with possession of child pornography, authorities said.

Federal officials said that the FBI found evidence that Oster “engaged in illegal conduct with minor victims.”

Oster will be arraigned Sept. 7 in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana and if convicted, faces a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison, according to officials. Each count of producing child pornography also has a “mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison,” authorities said.