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Ex-Swim Coach Pleads Guilty In Md. To Sex Abuse

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) -- A Virginia man who was once one of the nation's most prominent swimming coaches has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing one of the girls he instructed.

Richard J. Curl of Vienna, Va., pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Thursday to one count of child sex abuse.

He's scheduled to be sentenced on May 23 and faces up to 15 years in prison.

Curl, 63, was banned for life by USA Swimming over allegations of an intimate relationship with a teenage swimmer in the 1980s. He was charged last year after a woman told police that he sexually abused her between the ages of 13 and 18 when he was her swim coach.

A lawyer for Curl didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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