Arrest warrant issued for Ben Davis High School assistant track coach accused of child seduction

INDIANAPOLIS -- An arrest warrant has been issued for an assistant track coach at Ben Davis High School accused of touching an underage student inappropriately.




According to court documents obtained by FOX59/CBS4, Harrison Goss is facing five felony counts of child seduction.




A child seduction investigation was launched on April 7 when a detective with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was assigned a case involving Goss while he was a Wayne Township MSD employee.




The sexual incident is alleged to have taken place on March 18 in the 1200 block of Girls School Road. When the officer assigned to investigate the case arrived on the scene, they encountered the juvenile victim and their mother speaking to the school's dean about the alleged incident.




Court documents detail a string of text messages Goss allegedly sent to the victim. These included nude photos and other messages of a sexually explicit nature, according to court documents. Goss reportedly shared his desire to "get a hotel room" with the victim in one of these messages.




One day, while Gross was giving the victim a ride home from practice, he allegedly touched them inappropriately.




Detectives later learned that the victim was having a sleepover with a friend who reportedly found messages between Goss and the victim. The friend was looking through the victim's phone to learn more about "bad weather" that had recently rolled through the area.




While the friend was using the victim's phone, a message appeared from an unknown contact. The friend ran this same number in their phone and it reportedly matched the number for Goss. The friend then took several screenshots of the conversation before the victim returned to the room.

The victim's account

These screenshots were later shared with the dean and the detective. During an interview on April 10, the victim shared that they had originally asked for Goss's phone number as they prepared to head into track season.




The victim recounted how the conversations were "friendly" in the beginning. This soon changed as Goss allegedly began to send sexually explicit messages. These allegedly included asking the victim to send nude photos and to engage in sexual activities with him, court documents showed.




The victim reported that Goss implied he "wouldn't tell anyone" if they "messed around with him", court documents said. During the track season, the victim said Goss would give them rides to their home after practice.




During one of these rides, the victim shared that Goss elected to take them to a nearby elementary school in Wayne Township to "do sexual stuff", court documents said. The victim said they told Goss they did not want to do anything but felt they had no choice since Goss told them they "could get in trouble for texting him back."




The victim recalled being worried about facing a possible expulsion from school or Goss going to jail, court documents said. Goss took the victim home from track practice several more times after this incident.




As part of their investigation, detectives executed a search warrant for a cell phone and any other electronic devices belonging to Goss. When the warrant was approved, detectives found an address in the 1800 block of Venona Place after finding it in Goss's BMV information.




Goss refused to make any statements on the allegations without a lawyer being present, court documents said. When Goss handed his unlocked cell phone to officers, officers observed that the screensaver appeared to be a photo of the victim.

Next steps

Online court records indicate an arrest warrant was issued for Goss out of Marion Superior Court 28 on Friday.




FOX59/CBS4 has reached out to Ben Davis High School for comment and to determine Goss's current employment status with the school. As of this article's publication, we have not received a response.









This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.





via: https://fox59.com/news/arrest-warrant-issued-for-ben-davis-high-school-assistant-track-coach-accused-of-child-seduction/