HS Coach Charged With Criminal Sexual Contact At State Track Meet

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The head coach of a North Jersey girls track team has been charged after authorities say he touched an athlete from another team inappropriately during a state track meet in Toms River, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office announced Monday.

Thomas Downes, 61, of Jersey City, was charged Feb. 24 with criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child in an incident that happened Feb. 12, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The NJSIAA indoor track and field sectional championships were held that weekend at the John Bennett Indoor Athletic Complex, according to the NJSIAA website. Teams from North Jersey Section 1, in Groups 1 and 4 (the smallest schools and the largest schools) competed the morning of Feb. 12, according to the website.

The girl told her coach that an adult man had approached her during the meet and touched her inappropriately, and the girl's coach contacted Toms River police, Billhimer said.

Toms River detectives and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit investigated and identified Downes as the man who had touched the girl, Billhimer said.

Billhimer said Downes was the head coach of a girls track team at a high school in Jersey City at the time of the incident. He did not name the high school; initial attempts to determine which high school have not provided an answer.

Billhimer said Downes surrendered at Toms River police headquarters on Monday, was processed and released on a summons pending a future court appearance.

Anyone with additional information or who believes they may have been touched as well is asked to call Detective Alex Bromley of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-929-2027, ext. 3271, or the Toms River Township Police Department Detective Bureau at 732- 349-0150, ext. 1297, he said.

The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office assisted with the investigation, Billhimer said.

Downes has been a cross country and track coach in North Jersey for many years, both at the high school level and for a time at the collegiate level. A 2015 news release announced his hiring at New Jersey City University as a coach for cross country and track, but the website lists a different head coach for the team for the 2021-22 season.

Downes had been a teacher at County Prep High School in Hudson County, NJ.com reported, but he was no longer with the district, it said. He had been coaching for another Jersey City high school, that report said.

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