Youth sports coach arrested, accused of over a dozen counts of child sex abuse
Nov 19, 2024, 11:19 PM
FILE - The Salt Lake County Jail in South Salt Lake is pictured on Monday, Nov. 16, 2020..
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah youth sports coach is being held without bail, charged with more than a dozen counts of forcible sexual abuse against a child.
KSL TV is withholding the suspect’s identity to safeguard the victim’s identities.
According to court documents, West Valley Police started investigating the man in September after receiving a report from his ex-wife of possible child sexual abuse.
In a probable cause affidavit, investigators detailed information from an interview with one accuser in the case who told police she faced 3 to 4 years of inappropriate contact with the suspect. A second interview with another accuser revealed additional allegations of child sexual abuse dating back as early as 2019.
Investigators noted in the affidavit that the suspect “is a softball coach for high school-aged females and a football coach for high school-aged males”.
In an interview with police, the suspect denied the allegations against him.
On Monday, Salt Lake County prosecutors filed 18 counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony, against the suspect. He is currently in the Salt Lake County jail being held without bail.
If you have experienced sexual violence, you can access help and resources by calling Utah’s 24-hour Sexual Violence Help Line at 1-801-736-4356 (English) or 1-801-924-0860 (Spanish). You can also call the Rape Recovery Center office line during office hours at 801-467-7282 or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for free, confidential counseling.
