Former coach pleads guilty to soliciting sex with child

A former Surrey soccer coach has pleaded guilty in a Seattle courtroom to soliciting sex with a person he believed was a 12-year-old girl.

Kuldip (Kelly) Mahal, 47, was arrested in February 2015 at a park in Burlington, Wash., where he expected to meet a young girl for sex.

Just three weeks earlier, he had responded to a Vancouver Craigslist ad titled “Crazy and very young, looking to explore myself.”

Mahal, who coached with the Surrey United Soccer Club for 11 years, sent messages to the purported child even after she told him she was 12. In fact, he was communicating with a U.S. agent posing as a minor.

Mahal pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Tuesday to travelling with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

In exchange for his plea, U.S. prosecutors will recommend a sentence of between six and a half and nine years in jail. But U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik is not bound by the plea deal and could sentence Mahal to as much as 30 years behind bars at a hearing set for April.

U.S. attorney Annette L. Hayes announced the guilty plea in a news release Tuesday.

According to court documents, the ad to which Mahal responded was in the “casual encounters” section of Craigslist. It said: “I’m a bit young and I want to learn some new things. I have never experienced the things I want to, I am real and live in Burlington, Wash. I like to go to outlet stores at Tulalip!!”

On Feb. 3, 2015, Mahal crossed the border at Blaine to meet the girl. He brought dildos, lubricant, condoms and printouts of local hotel information, the plea deal says.

Instead of his imagined encounter, he was arrested and has been held in custody since.