Golf Instructor Pleads Guilty to Molesting Teenagers, Soliciting Their Murder
They don’t come much worse than Andrew Michael Nisbet.
On Thursday, Nisbet, 32, finally came clean in a deal with Alameda County prosecutors, pleading guilty to three counts of child molestation, three counts of solicitation of murder and one count of possession of child pornography, according to Alameda County District Attorney spokeswoman Teresa Drenick.
The case goes back to December of 2013. Nisbet, a much-beloved and nationally celebrated youth golf instructor, worked at the Las Positas Golf Course in Livermore. He had also taught at courses in Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi and North Carolina. He directed the U.S. Kids Golf Bay Area Tour and was named a Top 50 Master Teacher by the U.S. Kids Golf Foundation.
Andrew Nisbet once worked out of Las Positas Golf Club in Livermore
According to reports, a day before Nisbet was to receive the PGA’s 2013 Junior Golf Leader Award for Northern California, police arrested him on the course as he was giving a lesson.
Nisbet was charged with 75 felony counts for molesting three teenage boys between 2007 and 2012. One of the boys was 12-years-old. Some incidents took place inside Nisbet’s car in the golf course parking lot. Others took place in his home. Others happened during out-of-town golf trips. Nisbet was said to have performed oral sex on his victims. He showed them pornography on his cellphone.
According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News, Nisbet had a way of bonding with his young students, presenting himself as a “cool coach,” giving them rides, buying them expensive golf gear. It was Nisbet’s way of picking out which students he could prey on.
Even as he sat in a Dublin jail cell, Nisbet continued his victimization. He began working out a plot to have two of his accusers murdered. He wrote letters to someone he thought might be able to help him, but a jailhouse informant tipped off a deputy. An inspector for the district attorney was sent to the jail undercover to pose as a hitman. According to an affidavit, the inspector described himself to Nisbet as a “mechanic.” Nisbet told him he had two “cars” that needed “fixing.” He told the inspector to make the murders look like robberies gone wrong.
Ten days later, officials searched Nisbet’s jail cell and found a letter with driving instructions to one victim’s home, as well as a slew of other letters between Nisbet and the informant outlining the plot.
In April of this year, the solicitation of murder charges were added to Nisbet’s already long list of charges, including lewd acts with minors, arranging sexual meetings with minors and possession of child pornography. Nisbet initially pleaded not guilty to both the molestation charges and the solicitation of murder charges.
Nisbet will be sentenced to state prison October 9 for 27 years and 4 months.
Read more:
SFGate: Livermore Golf Coach Admits Seeking to Kill Boys He Abused
San Jose Mercury News: Popular Bay Area Youth Golf Pro Charged with 65 Counts of Child Molestation
