Ex-sports editor, coach guilty of sex offenses with girl players

JEFFERSON

Former Ashtabula Star Beacon sports editor Donald M. McCormack was found guilty today of committing sex offenses against two Jefferson High School basketball players while serving as their coach between 1999 and 2006.

His third offense, according to an assistant prosecutor, was improperly touching another girl after helping her move to Jefferson to play basketball, giving her a job, a cell phone, computer and transportation to earn her trust and then molesting her.

That conduct, which took place in 1999 and 2000 “caused her serious harm,” said Cecilia M. Cooper, an assistant county prosecutor. The victim, now 32, is one of two former players who has sued McCormack and the school district, seeking compensation for the emotional distress she says resulted from McCormack’s behavior toward her.

McCormack, 52, of Erie Street, pleaded no contest Wednesday in Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court to one felony — attempted child endangering — and two misdemeanor counts of sexual imposition. Judge Marianne Sezon found him guilty.

His plea agreement calls for him to spend six months in the Astabula County jail, serve five years of probation and register the address of his home and job annually for 10 years as a sexually-oriented offender.

He will receive his sentence in about six weeks from Judge Sezon.

Nicholas A. Iarocci, Ashtabula County prosecutor, said in a news release that McCormack has agreed that during his five years of probation, he will not be permitted to attend youth athletic or school-related events or have any contact with the victims. He must also receive sex-offender counseling, the prosecutor said.

The plea agreement is a significant reduction from the six felonies and three misdemeanors in McCormack’s indictment. Those charges could have resulted in a prison term of more than 10 years. Some of the charges that were dropped accused McCormack of engaging in sexual conduct with players, meaning more than touching offenses.

Iarocci said he approved the reduction to three offenses because it might have been difficult to convict McCormack on the more serious charges because they had to be filed under the laws in place in the 1990s, before state law spelled out higher standards for coaches and teachers.

Most of McCormack’s charges dated back to 1991, 1992, 1999 and 2000. Two charges were from 2006.

The two misdemeanor sexual imposition charges say he engaged in sexual contact with a girl in 1999 and 2000 when she was around 16. She is now 33. That offense took place in Ashtabula, according to McCormack’s indictment.

Another count of sexual imposition stems from sexual contact with a player in 2006 when the girl was 15. She is now 23. That contact took place in Geneva and/or Austinburg Township, McCormack’s indictment says.

McCormack was an assistant basketball coach and junior varsity coach during the times he committed the crimes.

The Star Beacon fired McCormack in August 2014 after he was charged. He had been the paper’s sports editor since 1998.

McCormack, who also coached girls softball and other sports, surrendered his coaching license in 2014.

The investigation began in 2014, after the father of one of McCormack’s players confronted McCormack over what he said was an inappropriate text message to his daughter.