Former USA Gymnastics coach Terry Gray has been charged with multiple counts of lewdness with a minor, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department (LVMPD) said.
Gray, 52, was arrested by detectives from the LVMPD's Sex Crimes unit on Friday, the police department announced in a news release.
Gray coached gymnastics in Las Vegas from 2009 to 2015 and was suspended by USA Gymnastics in 2019, the police department said.
He is "not permitted any contact with any USA Gymnastics-sanctioned event, member club, professional member or athlete involved with USA Gymnastics member clubs or events" until October 2021, according to a record of suspended and restricted coaches on the USA Gymnastics website.
#LVMPD Sex Crimes Detectives arrested 52-year-old Terry Gray for multiple counts of Lewdness with a Minor.
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) July 11, 2020
Please click on the following link for more information.#LVMPD#BreakingNewshttps://t.co/cZBPNL3yzi pic.twitter.com/SBqYhTRIXe
He has been charged with 14 counts of lewdness with a child under the age of 14. Those charges stemmed from incidents that that are alleged to have taken place at Brown's Gymnastics, a club in Las Vegas that has produced a number of U.S. national team members, The Orange County Register reported. The alleged incidents took place in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013.
There are at least three alleged victims, a person familiar with the case told The Register. Coaches from the club and employees have been co-operating with police, the newspaper reported, citing a source familiar with the investigation.
If convicted, Gray could face a maximum sentence of life in prison, Stephen B. Wolfson, the district attorney of Clark County in Nevada, told The New York Times.
In Nevada, the lewdness charge involves a victim being touched "with the intent of arousing or appealing or gratifying the victim or the offender," Wolfson said.
Gray once worked under Olympic team coach Mary Lee Tracy at Cincinnati Gymnastics, according to The Register.
There, he coached Morgan White, who qualified but didn't compete at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, and Alyssa Beckman, who was an alternate on the 2000 Olympic team.
Gray was suspended after an investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for sexual misconduct with a minor late last year. SafeSport was set up in 2017 and investigates allegations of sexual abuse and sexual misconduct for sports under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
He had been placed on an interim suspension in June 2018, but according to The Register, Gray had continued to coach female gymnasts at SCEGA Gymnastics in Temecula, California for more than a year while the investigation was conducted.
Gray's presence at the California club while under investigation sparked outrage and was mentioned in a Senate hearing in 2018, according to the newspaper.
Sen. Jerry Moran, who was the chairman of a Senate subcommittee looking into sexual abuse in U.S. Olympic sports, questioned then USA Gymnastics president Kerry Perry about the policies that had allowed Gray to continue coaching at SCEGA.
In a statement to Newsweek, USA Gymnastics said the U.S. Center for SafeSport has co-operated with police and is likely to impose a lifetime ban on Gray.
"Because of the nature of the underlying allegations made against Terry Gray several years ago, the U.S. Center for SafeSport had exclusive jurisdiction over his case and imposed a 2-year suspension following its resolution in 2019," the statement said.
"Accordingly, his USA Gymnastics Membership is currently suspended and he is prohibited from any contact with USA Gymnastics' members and the entire Olympic and Paralympic movements.
"Recently, the USA Gymnastics' Safe Sport team has provided requested information to the Las Vegas Police Department to assist in the investigation that led to Mr. Gray's current arrest. Because of these latest criminal charges, we anticipate that the USCSS will undertake an additional investigation and, most likely, impose a lifetime ban on Mr. Gray."
The statement added: "Though Mr. Gray has coached elite athletes, he has never been an employee or contractor of USA Gymnastics."
The LVMPD said in the news release that sex crimes detectives were seeking "additional victims."
"Anyone who may have been a victim of Gray or has information about his crimes, is urged to contact the Sexual Assault Section at 702-828-3421," the police department said. They can remain anonymous by contacting Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or at crimestooppersofnv.com.
This article has been updated with a statement from USA Gymnastics.
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