Child Sex Crimes Filed Against Main Line Basketball Coach

WYNNEWOOD, PA — A Wynnewood man who is a basketball coach and trainer has been accused of sexually abusing children while working in his coaching capacity, authorities said.

The Chester County District Attorney’s Office said Zachary Ray, 31, of Wynnewood, was taken into custody in connection to the sexual abuse of three child victims.

Authorities allege Ray's abused of three kids, ages 10 to 16, occurred from 2014 to 2023 at schools, parks, and the victim's homes in Chester County while he was acting as the victims' coach.

Ray is charged with aggravated indecent assault, child pornography, indecent assault, unlawful contact with minors, corruption of minors, and related offenses.

Authorities said all the alleged victims said Ray would take off their clothes to do a "core check," or stretch them while touching their genitals.

He also used his cell phone to photograph them, according to the DA's office.

Ray was released after posting 10 percent of $250,000 bail Monday, court records show.

He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 4.

Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said authorities believe others may have been victimized by Ray.

"The defendant preyed on the innocence of these child victims," she said. "These kids and their families trusted him as a coach, a guide, and an instructor so they could grow as athletes, but instead, he violated them and altered the course of their lives with this horrible betrayal."

Anyone who has information on the case or believes they may have been victimized by Ray to call Detective Ben Martin at 610-344- 6866.

According to the Chester County District Attorney's Office:

Chester County Detectives learned that in May, a report of possible child sexual abuse was forwarded to the Philadelphia Special Victims Unit from the PA Childline regarding a child victim in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia child victim had been involved in various basketball leagues and teams in Pennsylvania.

During her basketball tryouts, the victim and her family were introduced to the defendant as a coach.

From 2019 through 2023, Ray was the Philadelphia child victim’s coach or trainer.

In 2021, Ray was hired by her family for private basketball training.

The child victim told authorities that Ray would touch her inappropriately under her clothing on her bare chest and private parts from ages of 14 to 15.

She also told detectives that Ray took videos of him rubbing her private areas.

The Philadelphia investigation led to Ray's arrest and a search of his cell phone in May 2023.

While searching his device, authorities found photographs of multiple female juveniles.

Several photos showed the juvenile’s bare breasts and exposed privates.

Detectives identified the child victim, who agreed to an August 23, 2023 interview.

Investigators determined that Ray's cell phone had a factory reset on December 26, 2021, which wiped the memory.

In December 2022, it was restored and backed up through iCloud. Images identified as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) of victim 1 were backed up to the defendant’s cloud storage.

On Aug. 23, victim 1, who had turned 18 since the abuse, was interviewed by the Philadelphia Police Department and the Chester County Detectives.

She said she had met the Ray while he was coaching at Youth Basketball League in the West Chester area.

Her family hired him to train her for basketball, which would regularly occur at parks in the West Chester area.

The victim said Ray would run basketball and conditioning drills with her, lasting from the time she was around 10 years old in 2014 until 2020, when she was about 16 years old.

The inappropriate touching of victim 1 began at the parks when she was between the ages of 10 and 11 years old.

She said that Ray told her he needed to "check her core" and would feel her hips, groin, and chest.

This escalated to the point where she was lying down, and he would pull her shorts down and rub his hand on her privates, she told authorities.

The victim told investigators that the defendant never performed these checks on her brother.

These checks occurred at least twice a week while working out with him at the park, but he would run his hand over her privates for more extended periods at her home.

She told detectives that Ray touched her breasts, pulled her pants down, and touched her privates.

Additionally, she said she was worried Ray had videos or photographs of her he took during these encounters, since he typically held his phone.

Photographs were shown to victim 1, who confirmed that she was the individual in multiple images involving CSAM.

She informed investigators that many of the images showing her privates had been taken between her freshman and junior year of high school, when she was between 13 and 16 years old.

Victim 2 was interviewed by detectives in October 2019, when she lived in Schuylkill Township, Chester County.

On Oct. 15, 2019, she said Ray was her trainer and that her touched her body about 15 times during training sessions.

Victim 2 said that this happened from fall 2018 through fall 2019, while she was 13 to 14 years old.

The victim said while she stretched, Ray would touch her stomach, hips, buttocks and lift her pants and underwear to look down her pants.

This happened at East Goshen Park and three times at her home.

In September or October 2019, Ray picked her up and touched her inappropriately by rubbing her body and private parts, and he pulled down her clothes while at their basketball practice.

She said that when several of the assaults occurred, Ray had his phone out, and she believed he was taking a photo of her while she was exposed.

On May 2 this year, a third victim, who was 15 years old, came into the Radnor Township Police Station for an interview.

She got private basketball lessons from Ray at her school on Saturdays in September 2022.

In 2023, when the victim was 15 years old, Ray became more hands-on and would stretch her by touching her hips and groin behind closed doors on multiple occasions.

She said that Ray put his hands under her basketball shorts and rubbed her hip and groin multiple times during each training session in the weight room at her school.

She reported that it occurred at least four times before she told her mother.