{"id":206850,"date":"2026-03-06T05:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206850\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T05:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T05:38:21","slug":"cal-state-basketball-coach-kevin-mays-was-working-as-pimp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/206850\/","title":{"rendered":"Cal State Basketball Coach Kevin Mays Was Working as Pimp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A former assistant men\u2019s basketball coach at California State University, Bakersfield, has been charged with pimping and human trafficking after authorities alleged he moonlighted as a pimp while using a university-rented vehicle to facilitate sex work.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kevin Mays, 30, pleaded not guilty to 11 felony and misdemeanor counts, including possession of methamphetamine and marijuana with intent to sell, illegal firearms and high-capacity magazines, and possessing more than 600 images of child p*rnography, some depicting children as young as 4. He remains held without bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 13.<\/p>\n

The allegations surfaced Aug. 29 when an anonymous tipster emailed then-head coach Rod Barnes, claiming Mays was trafficking a woman across Nevada, Oregon, Washington and California since May. The email warned:<\/p>\n

\u201cHE IS TRAFFICKING A GIRL BY THE NAME OF [redacted]\u2026 HE HAS BEEN TRAFFICKING THIS GIRL SINCE MAY.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police reports detail how Mays allegedly controlled the woman\u2019s sex work, covering costs for hotels, flights and a rental car authorized through the university\u2019s Enterprise account. A sting operation in Sacramento confirmed her involvement, with ads listing rates of $300 for 30 minutes and $500 for an hour. Text messages showed Mays\u2019 \u201cinvolvement and control,\u201d authorities said.<\/p>\n

A search of Mays\u2019 apartment and vehicle uncovered automatic rifles, drugs and the child pornography on his phone. Investigators are probing for additional victims.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mays, who played for the Roadrunners from 2014 to 2016 under Barnes, joined the staff in 2019 as a player-development coordinator and became a temporary assistant coach in June 2025, earning about $3,000 monthly. A background check turned up no prior issues.<\/p>\n

The university launched an internal probe after Barnes forwarded the tip to human resources and campus police. CSUB officials consulted human trafficking experts and offered campus training.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe charges against Mays were deeply concerning,\u201d said Jennifer Self, senior director of strategic communications.<\/p>\n

University police tried to contact the sender on Sept. 3 for more information. In a subsequent email, the tipster claimed to have known both the alleged victim and Mays through previous travel for sex work. The context of the email suggested the person was a fellow sex worker.<\/p>\n

Mays told the tipster he was a professional gambler, according to the second email, and that he allegedly threatened to take away the tipster\u2019s child if the person exposed his activities. The sender also gave police the alleged victim\u2019s phone number and noted she previously had been arrested in Oregon on a DUI charge in a car that Mays had provided.<\/p>\n

Sacramento police ran a sting operation on Sept. 4 by scheduling a \u201cdate\u201d with the alleged victim at a Sacramento hotel room they later determined had been rented by Mays. Her rates were $300 for half an hour and $500 for a full hour, according to the police report.<\/p>\n

When interviewed by police after the sting operation, the woman identified Mays as her \u201cboyfriend\u201d and said that Mays \u201croutinely covered the costs\u201d for rental vehicles, hotels and flights when she traveled for sex work. The report also noted that police saw evidence of text messages between the two that showed Mays\u2019 \u201cinvolvement and control\u201d over the alleged victim\u2019s sex work.<\/p>\n

The scandal led to upheaval: Barnes resigned after 14 years, and athletic director Kyle Conder left in September 2025, later suing the school for alleged retaliation over reporting misconduct. CSUB denied the claims and formed a commission to review the athletic program. No alleged victims were linked to the university.<\/p>\n

This case compounds troubles for CSUB athletics, including a separate softball scandal involving harassment allegations against coaches, leading to firings and lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Mays\u2019 attorney, David Torres, declined comment. The Kern County District Attorney\u2019s Office also declined to discuss the ongoing case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former assistant men\u2019s basketball coach at California State University, Bakersfield, has been charged with pimping and human…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-206850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}