California youth football coach charged with robbery that took place at his team’s pizza party

A disturbing week of troubling rap sheets against youth football coaches continues after a California coach was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly playing a role in robbing a pizza restaurant while his team was eating at the very same restaurant.

As reported by the Modesto Bee, 28-year-old David McGill was arrested and charged with robbery, harboring a criminal and resisting arrest in connection with the robbery of a restaurant called Rico's Pizza on Oct. 22. McGill had previously been questioned about the robbery but insisted that he had played no role in the incident and had left as soon as the robbery began.

Instead, further inspection of surveillance video showed that McGill argued with a man at the cash register inside Rico's, setting the stage for a second, as yet unidentified man to walk directly behind the register and knock the Rico's employee to the ground with powerful punches.

McGill was at the restaurant along with players and family members of the Ceres Cardinals, a youth football team that competes in the Trans Valley Youth Football League, an organization that allows California children aged 6 to 14 to compete as part of 22 different area teams.

McGill was immediately suspended from his role as a coach as soon as reports of the robbery circulated, as was Ceres Cardinals president Anthony Estrada and the team's vice president, Jesus Montes. There has been no indication that either Estrada or Montes was involved in the robbery.

Until he was arrested, McGill had steadfastly refused to acknowledge that he knew anything about the robbery outside of what he had overheard from the banquet room at Rico's, where the team's party was going on.

"When I heard the commotion, I just got my family and left," McGill had told the Bee about the incident. "[The robbery] was sad. My main concern is for the organization."

Now, McGill is charged with being far more concerned with the money generated from a heartbreaking heist that took place in the midst of young children far more interested in playing football.

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