A recreational basketball and baseball coach for the town of Coventry has been sentenced to prison after he allegedly tried to entice players into online sexual relationships.
Coventry police arrested 28-year-old Zachary Vannais in 2020 for incidents that happened between November 2019 and Jan. 2020.
The Tolland State's Attorney's Office said Vannais created a fake social media account posing as a high school-aged girl and contacted eight students who played on his team asking for nude photos.
Authorities said that in some of these instances, he would offer to pay or provide gifts to the players if they sent sexually explicit photos.
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All but one of the players were under the age of 16 at the time, according to officials.
The minors alerted their parents and the police department about the incident. That's when Vannais admitted that he did in fact use a fake account to solicit images from the students he coached. Police found evidence of this when searching his phone.
“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.
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“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," Preville continued.
Vannais was sentenced on two counts of enticing a minor and two counts of misrepresentation of age. He will be required to register as a sexual offender with the state Sex Offender Registry.
