Kevin Mays, a former Cal State Bakersfield men's basketball player and temporary assistant coach, is awaiting trial on pimping and several other charges,ESPN's Shwetha Surendran reported on Thursday.
Mays, 32 years old when he was arrested this past September, is in jail and reportedly being held without bail. His preliminary hearing is set for March 13, according to ESPN's report, which unpacks the rap sheet of 11 criminal and misdemeanor charges he's facing.
In addition to human trafficking, Mays has been charged with possession of automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines, possession of methamphetamine and marijuana with intent to sell, and possession of more than 600 images of youth or child pornography, some of which depicted kids as young as 4, per ESPN.
Mays has pleaded not guilty on all charges.
Now-former longtime CSUB men's basketball head coach Rod Barnes coached Mays from 2014-16. In Mays' second and final season with the Roadrunners, he helped the program reach its first and only Division I NCAA tournament.
In 2019, he reportedly applied to become a player-development coordinator at CSUB. He got that position and then, this past June, took a job as a temporary assistant coach under Barnes. In Mays' new role, he was making a salary of just over $3,000 per month, according to ESPN's report, which cited school records.
Barnes reportedly received a tip in late August from an anonymous email sender, who alleged that Mays was working as a pimp in Las Vegas, Oregon, Washington and California.
In that same email, the tipster identified an alleged victim, whom Mays had allegedly trafficked for several months, and whom the Bakersfield Police Department later determined was 23 years old, per ESPN.
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The alleged victim was not part of CSUB's staff or student body, according to ESPN, which cited Kern County court records and university police.
"FIX IT OR THE WHOLE STAFF WILL FALL," the tipster wrote to Barnes in an email the sender described as a "first warning and a final warning," according to ESPN.
Barnes forwarded that email to CSUB's human resources office, leading to the investigation that uncovered Mays' nefarious activity.
The school announced in September that Barnes, reportedly shocked by Mays' alleged pimping, and then-athletic director Kyle Conder would no longer be occupying their roles.
Conder sued CSUB for what he claims is retaliation for whistleblowing, per ESPN, which reported Conder said he tried to warn the administration about "potential crimes and misconduct" at the university.
That said, according to ESPN's report, in a separate lawsuit from two anonymous softball players — who sued the school and a softball coach accused of harassment, illegal weapons transactions and more — Conder is alleged to have displayed "a pattern ... of failing to respond when receiving complaints against Coach Mays."
A subsequent email from the tipster reportedly informed the police that Mays' alleged victim had been arrested on a DUI charge in a car Mays had provided her.
ESPN's report, referencing an ensuing police investigation, details that Mays used a CSUB account to rent that car, which the alleged victim used for her sex work.
After carrying out a sting operation, Sacramento police reportedly interviewed the alleged victim, who identified Mays as her "boyfriend," but police detected text messages between them that exhibited Mays' "involvement and control" over her sex work.
