You don’t tend to hear much out of Cal State Bakersfield. Its best sport might be wrestling. It certainly isn’t its men’s basketball team.
But the program made national headlines Thursday.
Former CSUB assistant coach Kevin Mays was revealed Thursday to allegedly be working as a pimp across four states, per ESPN. CSUB found out about the accusations via an anonymous email in August and subsequently launched an investigation that led to Mays being fired. A probe by police then led to 11 criminal and misdemeanor charges.
Mays was a recent hire — the former three-year CSUB player had only been on staff since June on a measly $3,000 per month salary.
Just two months into his tenure, former CSUB head coach Rod Barnes received an email titled “IMPORTANT MESSAGE 911 911.” In the crux of the email, Mays was accused of “trafficking a girl since May.”
“FIX IT OR THE WHOLE STAFF WILL FALL,” the email read.
Barnes sent the email to CSUB’s human resources office. It was eventually forwarded to university police, leading to the investigation.
Police found the victim through a sex advertisement posted in Sacramento and ran a sting operation in September disguised as a “date.” The woman said Mays was her “boyfriend,” and he often covered costs of hotels, rental cars and flights for her work.
Mays was arrested the next day.
Police searched his car and found multiple firearms and a large stash of drugs. They looked through his phone, finding around 600 photos of children as young as 4.
Through the investigation, police also discovered that the woman had been involved in a DUI charge in a car that only Mays and other CSUB staff members were allowed to operate.
The ordeal resulted in Mays’ charge, which included felonies such as pimping and charges for possession of automatic firearms, possession of methamphetamine and marijuana with intent to sell and child pornography.
Mays pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is currently being held without bond, while investigators finish conducting follow-up interviews, Bakersfield police said.
In the aftermath of Mays’ scandal, CSUB announced in September that Barnes and athletic director Kyle Conder had left the university as well. It’s unclear whether their departures were connected to the events.
CSUB senior director of strategic communications Jennifer Self did say that the school took a “broader look at (its) athletic program” following Mays’ arrest.
Conder’s termination was announced a few days after Mays’ arrest, but he said in a lawsuit against CSUB that he was fired in August before the tip to Barnes. Conder stated that he was made a “convenient scapegoat” due to the timing of the announcement, which made it seem like he was “directly tied to” the scandal.
