Ashtabula coach pleads not guilty to sex charges


JEFFERSON

An inappropriate text message from former Jefferson High School girls basketball and softball coach Don McCormack to one of the girls he coached made her father angry enough to confront McCormack and tell a sheriff’s deputy, but the text message ultimately was not deemed criminal.

The investigation that ensued, however, brought McCormack to Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to five felony charges and two misdemeanors that accuse him of having sex with two other girls he coached and having sexual contact with two others. The girls were 16 to 17 years old. McCormack, of Jefferson, remains free on bond.

The felony charges are single counts of child endangering and gross sexual imposition and three counts of sexual battery. The misdemeanor charges are sexual imposition.

The charges date back to 1991, when McCormack, 51, was a young sports writer for the Ashtabula Star Beacon who also served as an assistant to Jefferson head girls basketball coach Rodney Holmes.

Holmes, 55, who retired last year from his teaching position in the district, is charged with two misdemeanor offenses alleging he failed to report what he knew about McCormack’s alleged offenses.

Read more about the case in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.