A former coach and teacher at a Pennsylvania school is facing multiple accusations that he assaulted boys, according to reports.
Eric Fairman, 26, of Pleasant Hills, Penn., has been charged with indecent assault and other offenses connected to incidents involving 11 boys, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported. He was a middle school teacher and regional youth sports coach in McKeesport.
Fairman has been charged with sex crimes related to three boys who accused him of sending them sexual messages and touching them. He turned himself in to police on Sept. 1, according to reports.
Fairman is accused in one case of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old by penetration, the first such allegation made against him. He faces charges of statutory sexual assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse in that case, the Post Gazette reported.
Fairman was a coach for multiple youth sports organizations in the Pittsburgh area.
According to court documents, he's accused of groping, sending explicit photos to and emotionally manipulating his victims, many of whom were athletes between the ages of 10 and 14.
One boy, identified as “Victim #8,” told investigators that Fairman was playing pool at the boy’s home when Fairman asked whether they could "play for something." Fairman reportedly told the boy he would get to beat the boy up if the boy lost the game.
When the game was over, Victim #8 said he intended to go to bed to avoid being hit, but when they went to watch a movie, Fairman reportedly said, “A bet is a bet,” and began simulating intercourse from behind the boy while holding his waist, according to court documents, as reported by the Post Gazette.
Fairman is also accused of trying to give another boy, identified as Victim #11, marijuana edibles “in what he described as another attempt by Fairman to sexually assault him once he was under the influence of the drug,” according to the complaint.
Victim #11 told investigators that Fairman offered him $200 to engage in oral sex when he was in 11th grade. When that victim confronted Fairman with a text for reportedly sending a picture of his genitalia, Fairman replied that he was sorry, according to court paperwork, saying he didn’t know that behavior meant anything at the time, and he thought they were just “brothers” messing around.
“Nah,” the teen replied. “[You] don’t do that to a 13-year-old," the Post Gazette reported.
Fairman is being held in the Allegheny County Jail. He faces a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
