Judge raises bail for former Modesto youth soccer coach facing child porn charges
A Stanislaus County judge on Thursday raised bail to $1 million for former MYSA Ajax United youth soccer coach Matthew Ryan Paez, who faces a growing list of felony charges alleging possession and distribution of child pornography and sexually explicit communication with minors.
Paez, 33, appeared in Stanislaus County Superior Court wearing a suit and sunglasses, sitting in the back of the gallery with a notebook covering his face. He entered a plea of not guilty to the 14 felony counts in a third amended complaint filed earlier this week.
Deputy District Attorney Sara Sousa told Judge Carrie Stephens that investigators discovered Paez had “lengthy conversations with underage girls” on Snapchat, often posing as a 16- or 17-year-old boy to gain their trust. Some of the girls, Sousa said, identified themselves as being as young as 13.
“These are not decoys,” Sousa told the court. “They are persons that he was having communication with. Many of the conversations contain hundreds of messages. Many are explicit in nature.”
The complaint alleges Paez possessed more than 600 illicit images of children, distributed multiple explicit videos through the Kik messaging app and contacted at least eight minors online with the intent to commit sex offenses.
As Sousa read through the charges, some people in the gallery exchanged looks and muttered “Oh, God,” in disbelief.
Sousa asked bail be set at $970,000, but Stephens increased it to $1 million, citing the seriousness of the charges and the risk to public safety.
“I’m not leaving the defendant out on bail,” Stephens said. “That’s simply too low, and it does not represent the serious risks to public safety that these charges represent.”
Speaking after the hearing, Sousa said she had requested a bail increase in anticipation of the new charges.
“Our goal was to have bail increased, and so that did happen,” Sousa said. “Not all devices have been fully searched. We do anticipate the possibility of more charges.”
She also confirmed the amended complaint reflected the breadth of discovery investigators have reviewed so far. “We had anticipated that there would be some additional charges pending a more comprehensive review, so there could be more,” Sousa said.
When asked if investigators are exploring connections between Paez’s case and the recent arrest of another Ajax United coach, 32-year-old Efrain Aguayo Jr., Sousa said she could not comment: “I am aware that there is a separate case involving a separate agency, but I can’t comment on that. Those are separate pending investigations.”
Defense attorney Daniel Vaswani declined to comment following the hearing, saying only that co-counsel Joseph McPeak would appear with Paez at his next court date.
Paez is now in custody at the Stanislaus County jail. He is scheduled to return to court Dec. 4 for an early case management conference.
MYSA AJAX UNITED RESPONDS TO ARRESTS
In a statement to The Bee Thursday, MYSA Ajax United Executive Director Marcus Raposas said both Paez and Aguayo were immediately removed from all coaching duties once the club learned of their arrests.
“The safety and well-being of every player in Ajax United has always been, and remains, our highest priority,” Raposas said. “Once we were informed of the arrests, the coaches were immediately removed from all club activities and prohibited from any further contact with players.”
Families of the affected teams were notified within hours, followed by a broader communication to all Ajax families, he said.
Raposas said both coaches had passed required background checks, including fingerprinting through the California Department of Justice and FBI, and a national third-party screening.
“Both individuals in question had cleared all required screenings, had no prior records, and gave us no information that would have raised concerns or suggested risk,” he said. “Importantly, there was nothing overlooked or missed — these were first-time offenses with no warning signs available to us.”
Ajax United will continue reviewing its safeguards and has cooperated with law enforcement, Raposas said. He added the club is exploring closer partnerships with Modesto police to strengthen community awareness and information-sharing.
