Volunteer coach pleads not guilty to sexually abusing two children
A longtime volunteer coach at a Long Beach middle school has pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually abused two young children for about a decade, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.
Christopher Anthony Gray, 35, of Long Beach was charged Thursday with six counts of lewd acts upon a child, two counts of continuous sexual abuse and one count of dissuading a witness from reporting a crime.
Prosecutors allege the crimes involved two victims and occurred between September 2003 and October 2013.
His bail was initially set to $200,000, but prosecutors recommended that it be raised to $1 million.
Gray had volunteered at Hughes Middle School since 1999 as the football coach and the boys’ and girls’ basketball coach, according to police and Chris Eftychiou, a spokesman for the Long Beach Unified School District.
“Nothing at this point indicates any students were involved or that anything occurred on school grounds,” Long Beach Police Sgt. Aaron Eaton said.
Eftychiou said Gray would not be allowed to volunteer at the school pending resolution of the case.
Gray’s next court appearance will be Nov. 5.
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