A divided federal appellate court has affirmed the 30-year prison sentence given to a former field hockey coach for soliciting pornographic images from a girl he coached and sharing them with another teen girl with whom he sought to have sex.

A two-judge majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit described Todd Broxmeyer as a “predator who abused his position of trust as a coach,” but their ruling drew a sharp dissent from Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs (See Profile).