Ex-Cal State Bakersfield assistant to face trial in pimping case

Kevin Mays, a former Cal State Bakersfield assistant basketball coach accused of pimping and other offenses, will face trial after a California judge ruled Wednesday that there is sufficient evidence to prosecute him.

Mays faces felony and misdemeanor criminal charges that include pimping and possession of automatic firearms, drugs and child pornography. Mays had pleaded not guilty on all charges.

Mays allegedly possessed more than 600 images of youth or child pornography and distributed obscene matter involving someone under 18 years old. A police forensic examiner testified Tuesday that 28 videos found on Mays’ phone, time-stamped between 2022 and 2024, depicted sexual conduct with a minor.

Judge Eric Bradshaw presided over the hearing Tuesday and Wednesday after another judge was recused from the case for unexplained reasons. After hearing hours of testimony from various police investigators and specialists, Bradshaw stated that there is “sufficient cause to believe that the defendant committed these offenses.”

Police testified about the relationship between Mays and a woman who allegedly worked as a prostitute under his control. They and Kern County prosecutor Christine Antonios provided details about advertisements, phone and text exchanges, car rentals, and other aspects of what investigators alleged was a prostitution operation covering at least three but possibly four states.

In addition, the investigators provided explicit details of child pornography they found on Mays’ phone plus drugs and automatic weapons found in his car and apartment.

The investigation followed an Aug. 29 anonymous email passed on to police by another staffer at Cal State Bakersfield.

In the August anonymous email sent to Rod Barnes, the men’s basketball coach at the time, the tipster alleged that Mays was working as a pimp across four states and identified a woman Mays allegedly had trafficked for several months.

According to police records and testimony, they found the woman through an online sex advertisement and ran a sting operation by scheduling a “date” with her in a Sacramento hotel room they later determined had been rented by Mays.

At the hearing, police identified the alleged victim and testified that she had engaged in prostitution in California, Oregon and Las Vegas. Another witness alleged that the activity also occurred in a fourth state.

Anthony Figueroa, a detective with the Sacramento Police Department, testified that, when interviewed by police, the woman had said that Mays covered the costs for condoms, rental vehicles, hotels and flights when she traveled for sex work.

Mays had also promised to get her into school, according to police testimony, and may have rented a Cal State Bakersfield basketball player’s apartment to the alleged victim.

David Torres, Mays’ attorney, questioned the police characterization of Mays’ and the woman’s relationship as pimp and prostitute and alleged that she had engaged in sex work for five years before meeting Mays.

Torres asked the judge to dismiss the pimping and pandering charges and said that this was the “chosen profession” of the alleged victim. He pointed to police testimony that she has continued her commercial sex work.

Prosecutor Antonios also presented Mays’ text exchanges with another woman who told police that she had met Mays while dating a Cal State Bakersfield basketball player. A police officer testified that, in an interview, the woman said Mays had reached out to her on social media. She said that he spoke to her about creating accounts on commercial sex websites.

Mays’ next hearing date is set for April 7.

Mays’ attorney and a spokesperson for the Kern County District Attorney’s Office declined comment to ESPN.