COVENTRY, Conn. — A former coach for the Coventry Recreation Department has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for soliciting his players for sexual photos.
Zachary Vannais, 28, previously of Coventry, was sentenced Friday in Rockville Superior Court on two counts of Risk of Injury to a Minor, two counts of Enticing a Minor, and two counts of Misrepresentation of Age to Entice a Minor for a total effective sentence of 10 years execution, suspended after four years served, to be followed by 10 years of probation.
Vannais will also be required to register as a sexual offender.
Vannais was arrested in March 2020 in connection to multiple incidents from November 2019 to January 2020 in Coventry. Vannais was a basketball and baseball coach for the Town of Coventry Recreation Department.
Court records show Vannais created a fake social media account posing as a high school-aged female and contacted eight students who played on his team, soliciting nude photos. In some of these instances, he would offer to pay or provide gifts if the victims sent him nude photos. All but one victim was under the age of 16 at the time.
The victims told their parents, who then told Coventry police.
Vannais admitted to the police that he did use a fake account to solicit these images from the students he coached. The Coventry Police Department later executed a search and seizure warrant on Vannais’ cell phone and found the crimes on his social media account.
“This case highlights the risks associated with young people, predators and social media,” Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Jaclyn Preville, who prosecuted the cases, said. “More importantly, however, it highlights the fact that sexual offenders can hold themselves out to be pillars of the community, gaining the trust and confidence of children and parents alike. The children who were victimized by Mr. Vannais, and their families, should be commended for the courage it took to come forward and report these incidents. It can often be difficult to report cases of sexual abuse and grooming, and the bravery of these families cannot be understated.”
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