Ex-Gymnastics Club Coach From Ocean County Had Sex With 3 Teen Athletes, Prosecutor Says

FREEHOLD, NJ — A Manchester Township man who worked as a youth gymnastics coach has been charged with sexual assault after he had sexual relationships with three of his former athletes, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Sasha C. Raught, 55, is charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault and three counts of second-degree sexual assault, Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said.

Raught was a coach at Shrewsbury Gymnastics from the early to mid-1990s and later at Jonas Gymnastics Academy in Marlboro, the prosecutor said.

Investigators with the prosecutor's office Special Victims Bureau learned Raught had the relationships with his former athletes when they were each teenagers. The first two alleged instances took place when he worked at Shrewsbury Gymnastics, and the third took place in 2008 while he was at Jonas Gymnastics Academy, Santiago's office said.

Raught was arrested at his Manchester home without incident in late May by members of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Manchester and Shrewsbury Police Departments, and is being held at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution pending a detention hearing tentatively scheduled to take place on Wednesday, June 7 in Monmouth County Superior Court.

The prosecutor's office filed a motion to keep Raught detained as the criminal case against him proceeds, Santiago said.

Anyone with information about Raught’s activities is urged to contact Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office Detective Joseph Pahopin toll-free at 1-800-533-7443. Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Keri-Leigh Schaefer is set to handle the case, officials said.