Ari GuindonA former high school gymnastics coach was indicted Wednesday on a charge he exchanged sexually explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl.
Ari Guindon, 25, was indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury on a single count of exploitation of a minor by electronic means.
According to an arrest affidavit, Southern Adventist University's director of campus safety came forward with Guindon's name on March 26. The mother of a student at Collegedale Academy, which is adjacent to the university, told the safety director her daughter received pornographic images and messages that were "sexual in nature" through Twitter and the image-sharing application Snapchat.
Police interviewed the girl, who told them she met Guindon through school gymnastics. He was an assistant coach and working to satisfy degree requirements. According to the affidavit, the girl said Guindon never touched her sexually but had recently sent her an image of two people engaged in sexual intercourse accompanied by the text "want this?"
An investigator uncovered messages like "Ever gone skinny dipping?" and noted that although they did not explicitly ask the teen to have sex with him, they were "overtly sexual in nature."
According to an official statement released by Southern Adventist, the school became aware of the allegations March 3. After an investigation, Guindon was "removed from any classwork which required interraction with minors" and banned from campus.
When the investigator called the school March 30, Guindon was no longer working with the gymnastics team, according to the affidavit. Guindon agreed to an interview with police that day.
"Gui[n]don gave a full confession regarding his recent texts exchange between he [and the young woman]. Gui[n]don advised that sending the texts messages and pornographic photos was wrong, and that he had a problem," the investigator wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Guindon turned himself in to police. He is scheduled for arraignment in Hamilton County Criminal Court before Judge Don Poole on June 26.
Contact staff writer Claire Wiseman at cwise man@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow her on Twitter @clairelwise man.