Murrieta Superior Court Judge Denies Football Coach's Petition for Restraining Order Against Parent of a Former Player

Temecula, California May 30, 2023 (Issuewire.com) - On May 10, 2023, Christopher Lee Mercadal filed California Judicial Form CH-109 - a Notice of Court Hearing (Civil Harassment Prevention), accompanied by Judicial Form CH-110 - Temporary Restraining Order (see photos), in a Murrieta Superior Court, seeking to have Tommy Sevilla, a former friend, former Murrieta Junior All-American Football Associate Chapter AD and Deputy Commissioner of the Murrieta Broncos, banned from all "Southern California Junior All-American Football" fields and schools in the Murrieta area where the Defendant's children participate in youth sports (Mercadal v Sevilla Case #: CVSW2302721 ).

Later in the week, Petitioner Mercadal had the Riverside County Sheriff serve Defendant Sevilla at his home. The Sheriff's Deputy was obligated by law to have Sevilla surrender any and all firearms that he had in his possession in lieu of the May 11th Superior Court Hearing. Sevilla had no weapons to surrender, and Sevilla would later testify to the Court that he has never owned a firearm, nor has he been in possession of one and that Mercadal was making false statements about gun possession to deceive the Court into granting his baseless Petition, especially as firearms have never been mentioned in any of their conversations or conversations.

Mercadal's Petition to the Court also claimed that Sevilla was a Central American "gang member" (Sevilla is Mexican and Puerto Rican) who owned, had possession of or had access to guns and fellow gang members that Mercadal feared could harm him. Mercadal further testified to the Court that Sevilla labeled him as a "child abuser" and was upset that Sevilla made these allegations against him to Kyle Jackson - President of the Murrieta Broncos Junior All American Football team, the principles within the Southern California Junior All American Football organization, as well as Vista Murrieta High School administrators and to Head Coach - Coley Candaele; former Head Coach Pederson and their athletic director - Carl Galloway.

The feud between the former friends and colleagues within the Murrieta Junior All-American Youth Football Organization and Frat Boyz team organization started when Sevilla wrote an email to Coach Mercadal as a parent and friend, touching on matters of concern that directly affected his family and his son; namely that Sevilla's son was loyal to Merc, had chosen to skip a TrialNet Study for Type 1 Diabetes at Standford University in order to accommodate Mercadal's request for Sevilla's son to play up in age group with the 12u Frat Boyz team in a tournament whereby they would play the elite OG Ducks team on Sevilla's son's birthday no less. When Sevilla's son, a very skilled athlete, would receive zero playing time in that game, Sevilla's son was dejected and both were obviously miffed at the fact that all of the coach's son's, many of whom are not at the skill level of Sevilla, played in the game. Sevilla, in his email to Merc pointed out these things and told Merc that the rivalries were not between the players, but rather between the coaches who get the huge trophy afterward and whose son's get the MVP trophies while the rest of the players don't so much as get a bottle of water, according to Sevilla's email to Merc (see attached), written in a non-threatening and even pleasant manner, ending it with an invitation to smoke cigars and drink whiskey. Mercadal's violent and disrespectful response to Sevilla about his son would set the tone for the future marked by retaliation. First, based upon information and belief, Mercadal would immediately lobby to have Sevilla removed from the MJAAF Board, which he was, but Sevilla, also the League's Webmaster, would never learn of such a move until it was time to log in to the website from which he was now suddenly blocked from accessing. Following these events, Sevilla and his family would be harassed and threated by a colleague of Mercadal's - youth football coach, Reginald Kemp, known as "Coach Kemp", who would threaten in text messages to harm Sevilla's kids and his wife, repeatedly telling Sevilla that he knew where his kids slept and where he lived. When Sevilla reached out to MJAAF President - Kyle Jackson and Mercadal about their colleague and to intervene - they took no action and effectively refused to protect their player. What would follow would be the incident where his son, after Sevilla pulled him from the Murrieta organizations and placed him with Menifee Wildcats and Relentless Premier Athletes, the violent hits to his son and grandson in touch 7 on 7 football and tackle scrimmages; hence the paper trail of complaints that Mercadal would be upset by and take legal action against, claiming that he now feared for his life after the allegations of harming Sevilla's son and grandson. Sevilla never responded to Mercadal's response, which also degraded Sevilla's son and told Sevilla to "kiss [his] ass" and to take his son to one of the many other organizations in the area. Sevilla's son was a key player and defensive and special team's starter on Mercadal's 2021/2022 Micro Division Super Bowl Championship team and was starting quarterback for Mercadal's Frat Boyz 10u team.

During the Court Hearing, Mercadal claimed that Sevilla never sought an investigation into the allegations but in Sevilla's response to the Court, Sevilla produced letters to the Court in evidence; letters to Mercadal's superiors and testified at length to the contrary stating that he wrote in complaint, adhering to the chain of command, by first requesting investigation by Kyle Jackson of the Murrieta Broncos (MJAAF), then Southern California Junior All American Football (SCJAAF), and only Vista Murrieta High School and District Officials after those organizations failed to respond to his written complaints and requests for investigation, informing Murrieta Valley School District Officials of a "rogue" coach whose coaching style and violent culture will expose them to liability issues and potential lawsuit from him as they, in effect, sanction and endorse his behavior by allowing him and his organizations to identify with the high school "Broncos" and utilize their facilities, warning them that other kids can fall victim in the future. According to Sevilla's correspondence with Vista Murrieta and Murrieta Valley officials, he admonished them for choosing to remain deliberately indifferent and negligent. Sevilla has yet to receive results of any investigation into the alleged intentional targeting of his son and grandson from Vista Murrieta High School, MJAAF, SCJAAF or the Frat Boyz.

At the Hearing, Mercadal, after seeing the voluminous response filed by Sevilla, would return to Court, after the recess, with defaming written statements from Sevilla's ex-assistant baseball coaches of several seasons (Sevilla was Head Coach): Destrian Vallejo and George Uhila, both of whom were brought into the aforementioned Murrieta youth football organizations by Sevilla but the Judge would cut Mercadal's introduction of his alleged new exhibits short and admonish him about the burden he carries to prove his allegations, rather than defame the Defendant, as well as proper discovery to the Defendant, who was previously unaware of such written letters and was not previously served with them. The Murrieta Judge further informed Mercadal that Sevilla had a right to make such complaints to his "employers", as Mercadal referred to them as being, and that Sevilla's response to Mercadal's alleged actions were understandable in light of the context of physical injury to his child and grandchild and that he saw no evidence of Sevilla ever having engaged in gang activity or having any recent criminal legal troubles. The Judge would however, ask Sevilla point blank if he challenged Mercadal to a fight and Sevilla admitted to the Court that his statement to Mercadal, which Mercadal produced in Court relative to challenging Mercadal to settle the matters like grown men, were true, but promised to the Court that he would not beat Mercadal up for allegedly harming his son and grandson and that the aforementioned organizations should've been responsible in sanctioning Mercadal.

Petitioner Mercadal's Petition was DENIED in its fullness and the previous Temporary Restraining Order Pending Hearing was VACATED.

Sevilla adds that he was approached after the Hearing by others present in the hallway, including his young son, who overheard an adult couple ask Mercadal if he had "won" his Hearing after he exited the Courtroom and to which Mercadal reply confidently, "I'll get him next time," while doing the Crip Walk.

Statement from Defendant Sevilla:

     "Chris Mercadal or Coach Merc as he is known is a legend in his own mind and can now also be known as one who has made many false and unproveable allegations to the Superior Court of California to cause further injury to my child, grandchild and family. Here he is, a grown ass man who is known within the youth football community for his lack of class, inciteful behavior and starting shit while hiding behind his coaches and parents - teaching his players to yell out 'SQUUUUAAAADDD', (i.e. hit squad) along with him, his coaches and parents after scores, violent hits and simply to incite and taunt the opposing teams. He is like a little Chihuahua who is all bark and no bite. He says things like 'come catch a fade'; squats down and throws up signs like a gang member during his photo ops but runs to the authorities and his superiors when somebody real and who don't play around calls his bluff. Apparently, he thought that he could hurt me by - based upon information and belief - causing serious physical injury to my then 11-year-old son and 13-year-old grandson, most recently.

     What kind of man does that?

     There are many labels to describe such a man, especially when it only happened when I wasn't present as he knows better to do that shit when I'm there! I had to hear about it from multiple parents, coaches and team officials who - based upon information and belief - all believed that it was intentional and at the very least, unwarranted, classless and illegal. To this very day and even in open Court, Merc has yet to deny the allegations and apologize to all affected but would rather double down and cause further damage with his many false allegations that he failed to prove in Court.

     The dude is all about himself as a Coach and should fear every parent whose child is seriously injured by his team's classless culture and disrespectful style of play. The best thing we ever did was take my son to the Menifee Wildcats and Relentless; those coaches and organizations have shown themselves to be the real deal and have valued my son's play and leadership, with Coach Darris and Coach D being exceptionally involved and protective against Murrieta Broncos and Frat Boyz bullshit and gossip. Those dudes don't play either.

     For God's sake, my grandson was clotheslined in a touch football game by Merc's Frat Boyz team and he and his coaches, parents and players celebrated the hit and a near riot ensued while he hid behind his coaches and parents as usual.

     My son? Merc's players - my son's former teammates - called him a 'traitor' at JAAF Weight Certification, and he and his coaches were heard by our Menifee coaches and parents all telling their players to 'get violent' - according to their statements - before they took my quarterback son out at his knees well after the whistle.

     Shame on Celeste Scallion, Vista Murrieta Principal and Coach Pederson and Candaele and his staff, along with Kyle Jackson of MJAAF, for not taking the matter seriously and not even investigating and responding to me with the results of the investigation. To this very day, I have yet to receive a response from his superiors on my request for investigation, but rather, they have chosen to coddle the one alleged to have acted inappropriately and illegally. They share in Merc's responsibility, and in Court, I will hold them accountable for their liability in these matters.

     Any coach who coaches with or for him and any parent who allows their kid to play for such a guy needs a character check.

    The awesome part about all of this and evidential of my son's character is that he never once complained or raised these issues, however, it greatly affected him emotionally as we as parents could readily see. It was the principals within the organizations, video evidence and other parents who confirmed Merc's alleged behavior and that of his players when I wasn't present and out on business or with my son for the California State Wrestling Championships. he's a fiercely loyal kid who never complains and can sure as hell handle himself. My follow up to all of this shameful behavior - as a coach myself for more than 41 years - is to protect other kids and to warn those in authority of one who doesn't belong in the coaching ranks or among kids. Hell, Merc has failed to acknowledge my son personally at the subsequent football games and especially in Court where he acted pridefully and arrogantly. At least my son sees now what that dude is all about."

Sevilla's son would suffer total pancreatic failure - Type 1 Diabetes - during this timeline of events and season. However, he continues to excel in sports (wrestling, boxing, basketball, baseball and football) and set an example for others while Insulin dependent.

The Court transcripts and case information may be accessed here: Media Information (ca.gov)