A New Jersey soccer coach has been indicted for sexting and molesting his young players for years — with at least one just 11, according to prosecutors.
Ryan Gunsauls, a 32-year-old former volunteer firefighter and police dispatcher from Union Beach, was first arrested in May after a player reported him for sending sexually explicit material to him online — and asking for some to be sent back, Monmouth County prosecutors said.
At least eight others came forward, ranging in age from 17 to just 11, the prosecutor’s office said.
Gunsauls — who coached for the Union Beach Soccer Association — allegedly confessed to investigators to having inappropriate sexual conversations with the kids, sending porn to team group chats and sending pictures of his penis to players, according to the Asbury Park Press.
The coach also confessed to picking up two of the players at their homes and driving them to Union Beach playing fields — where he molested them in his car, the Press said.
It was not clear how old those players were at the time.
Gunsauls was on Tuesday hit with a 30-count indictment, with charges including endangering the welfare of a child by manufacturing child sexual abuse material, child endangerment by way of sexual conduct, criminal sexual contact and distributing obscene materials to minors.
The 11-year-old accuser told other coaches that Gunsauls had sent him a picture of his penis — and asked the kid to send him one, too.
Gunsauls also allegedly sent the child photos of other players engaging in sexual acts, then threatened him to keep quiet — or else.
“He was an authority figure to them — they trusted him,” assistant county prosecutor Keri-Leigh Schaefer said in an earlier court hearing in May.
“The defendant abused that position of power and trust he had over the children, used that power imbalance to his advantage,” she continued. “He groomed these children by getting them to trust him, establishing an emotional connection with them, only to later sexually exploit them.”
Gunsauls has been remanded to Monmouth County Jail in South Jersey.
He plans to plead not guilty, his attorney, Michael Pappa, told The Press.
The coach’s legal team had argued in May that he posed no risk to the community and should be released.
But a state Superior Court judge brushed that off, saying he was worried for the safety of the victims.
“This is not something that recently occurred, but has been occurring over time with players on the team, minors on the team,” Judge Richard W. English said.
