OLATHE, Kan. – A plea hearing is scheduled for former Olathe Northwest coach charged with sex crimes.

A Johnson County judge scheduled an April plea hearing for Steven Mesa during a hearing Tuesday morning. The judge also denied a request to remove his GPS monitoring device.

Mesa is charged with three counts of unlawful sexual relations with a person aged 16 or older.

According to a court affidavit, police received a tip about an inappropriate relationship between Mesa and student at the high school.

When officers interviewed the 17-year-old, she said the sexual relations began in July 2022.

According to a sworn statement, she told investigators the two were together at Mesa’s house and also multiple times at Olathe Northwest High School.

Mesa had coached and served as a physical education teacher in the Olathe Public Schools district for nearly 20 years before he was terminated. He was named the Kansas 6A wrestling coach of the year in 2015.