Youth Hockey Coach Indicted On More Child Assault Charges

MARBLEHEAD, MA — An Essex County Grand Jury returned 10 indictments alleging the youth hockey coach accused of sexually assaulting children had assaulted more in Marblehead and Peabody.

Christopher Prew, 31, of Winthrop was indicted on nine counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and one count of attempted indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. He will be arraigned on those charges Friday in Salem Superior Court. Prew remains held without bail at the Middleton House of Correction.

Prew is now accused of sexually assaulting seven boys across Essex County. Prosecutors say most of the allegations took place between Jan. 1, 2017 and Feb. 5, 2018. Prew has also been indicted for molesting a boy in Newton.

Prew, who provided private and group coaching sessions out a hockey company he co-owns, was initially accused of indecently assaulting and orally raping a 9-year-old boy on various dates between Sept. 1 and Jan. 31. Marblehead police began investigating Prew after the boy told his mother of the alleged assaults, officials said.

Prew's attorney said at the time of the first indictment that Prew had been "intimately involved with the mother of the child" and expected his client to be vindicated.

Prew's mother, 55-year-old Louise Martino, was also indicted Thursday for intimidation of a witness. Martino is accused of sending a threatening message to the mother of one of her son's accusers via social media.

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