ENFIELD — An Enrico Fermi High School assistant basketball coach has resigned after being charged with soliciting prostitution in Windsor Locks last Friday.
John Norris, 53, of Enfield had been working as Fermi’s JV basketball assistant coach since after Thanksgiving.
Superintendent Jeffrey Schumann said Thursday that Norris was “very upfront” about the arrest and that Norris sent an email to Fermi’s varsity basketball coach.
“I was arrested last Friday for soliciting a prostitute and although I feel I will be cleared of the charges when I get my day in court, I feel the need to resign as the coach of the boys Fermi JV Basketball program,” he wrote in an email Monday afternoon.
“I would stay and finish the year but I believe it will be easier on the both of you if I step down as you will not have to deal with any parents who think I will be a bad person to be around their kids,” he wrote in the email. “I appreciate the chance I was given and am deeply sorry that I let you, Bob and the boys down.”
Police arrested 11 men during “Operation Cupid” — a joint effort by detectives and patrol officers to crack down on prostitution in motels along Route 75, police said.
Police placed an ad on a popular website that offers sex for money. An undercover officer, posing as a prostitute, responded to several requests, police said.
The undercover officer planned to meet “clients” at a motel, where the men were arrested by a team of back-up officers, police said.
Police said one man they arrested, John Wadlegger, is a Springfield police officer.
Prostitution in the area has caused an increased number of larcenies, illegal drug use, child exploitation and disorderly conduct, police said.
By Mikaela Porter, Hartford Courant