LIVERMORE (KRON) — Not guilty!

A jury has acquitted an East Bay soccer coach accused of molesting a 10-year-old girl.

KRON’s Kate Cagle spoke to the free man who is now trying to clear his name.  Even when you know you’re innocent, the soccer coach said there is nothing scarier than your fate resting in the hands of 12 strangers.

“I feel like this immense weight has been taken off my shoulders,” 25-year-old Jesse Schlicker said.

Schlicker can say he is past one of the most difficult periods of his life. In the summer of 2014, Schlicker was a coach at a Livermore youth soccer club.

They practiced at the Cabernet Indoor Sports Park, which is now under new ownership.

On July 22, he received a shocking call from the mother of a 10-year-old player.

“She said that I had touched her daughter at camp inappropriately, and that’s when I thought instantly something, you know, ‘what went wrong?'” Schlicker said.

The mother said it happened near some lunch tables that overlook the soccer fields.

“I said that’s crazy. I have no idea how to respond to that,” Schlicker said.

There was another adult and as many as 20 children and teens also having lunch when it allegedly happened. By dinnertime, police were outside Schlicker’s door.

“And they asked me who I was. I told them. And they said, ‘You’re going to jail,’” Schlicker said.

Schlicker faced nine years behind bars if convicted.

Police released Schlicker’s mugshot to the public and the media asking for witnesses and victims to come forward.

Schlicker said no one ever did. Instead, they came to his aide.

“Multiple people came forward from the woodwork. Friends from I had from elementary school, middle school, high school. All came back to support me,” Schlicker said.

A dozen people testified in support of his character at trial, and after deliberating for just 90 minutes, the jury delivered a verdict — Not guilty.

“It was probably the most moving thing I’ve ever gone through in my whole life,” Schlicker said.

When you google Schlicker’s name, news reports from that summer still come up.

But even despite that fact, he is confident he will be able to get a new job, move on, and close this chapter of his life.