Man Pleads Not Guilty in Confrontation With Son’s Coach

The Woodland Hills man jailed last month for allegedly threatening his son’s high school baseball coach with physical harm pleaded not guilty on Monday.

Ronald Clebanoff, 38, entered his plea in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

He faces up to a year in county jail if convicted on charges of disturbing the peace, disturbing the peace on school grounds, trespassing on school grounds and disturbing a school activity, said Los Angeles Deputy City Atty. Richard Schmidt.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for June 3.

“I’m going to stick to my guns,” Clebanoff said in an interview after his arraignment. “All I was doing was protecting my child.”

The charges stem from an incident last month in which Clebanoff--a father of four--was arrested by Los Angeles Unified School District police officers at a junior varsity baseball game at Chatsworth High School between Taft and Chatsworth.

Until two weeks ago, his 15-year-old son played for Taft.

A self-described enthusiastic spectator, Clebanoff said all season that he had been unhappy with what he called “verbal abuse” of his son by coach Edmund Gunny.

There was an argument between the father and the coach during a game on April 15. It carried over to the April 22 game, when school officials allege that Clebanoff went onto the field, swore at and threatened to physically harm Gunny and an assistant coach.