COMPTON (AP) — A former Los Angeles-area high school principal and volleyball coach has been sentenced to eight years in state prison for molesting teenage students.

Forty-one-year-old Jonas Vital Silverio was sentenced Friday in Compton.

Prosecutors say that he molested four girls between 1996 and 2007. Three of the victims played on volleyball teams he coached.

Silverio was principal of Firebaugh High School in Lynwood but he resigned in May of 2009 and left for the Philippines. He was arrested two months later when he returned to Los Angeles.

He pleaded no contest last year to 10 counts of committing a lewd act on a 14- or 15-year-old child.

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