A former Cabrillo High School baseball coach was sentenced today to two years and eight months in state prison for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old student off campus last May.
As part of his sentence, 35-year-old Gabriel Vigil, of Long Beach, must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He was also ordered not to contact the victim and to remain at least 100 yards away from the victim’s home and Cabrillo High School.
Vigil was sentenced after pleading no contest to two of the seven charges he faced: meeting a minor for lewd purposes and sexual penetration of a person under 18. Another five charges, all related to the same victim, were dismissed as a result of a plea agreement with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Dressed in a prison-issued blue shirt and pants, Vigil stared at the table in front of him as the victim’s mother spoke Tuesday in Long Beach Superior Court.
“My daughter suffered a horrible crime at the hands of someone who abused his position as a high school coach to get close to her with evil intentions in mind,” the victim’s mother told the judge. “What should have been the happiest final two years of high school with her friends are now marked by a traumatic and horrific assault.”
Prosecutors said Vigil committed the crimes between May 1 and July 1, when he was Cabrillo’s head baseball coach. He was also a substitute groundskeeper, according to a Long Beach Unified School District spokesperson.
Previously, Vigil was an assistant coach at Cabrillo, Mayfair, and Bellflower high schools. He was also the interim coach at Poly High for a stretch in 2023.
Vigil was arrested on July 24 at his home near Pacific Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, according to Long Beach police.
After his arrest, detectives who examined Vigil’s computer discovered he’d been researching how to start a new life in Mexico, the victim’s mother told the court.
If he’d chosen to fight the charges and been convicted at trial, Vigil could have faced a maximum of 8 years in state prison, but on Nov. 3, he accepted the plea agreement.
With the time he’s already spent in custody, Vigil could complete his sentence in just a little more than two years.
“I would give you more than two years,” the victim’s mother told him in court. “Two years is nothing and [my daughter] is scarred for life.”