A former New Jersey soccer coach is under arrest for sending and requesting "explicit" images to underage players, authorities said.
Christopher Ferrari, 24, of Oaklyn, sent and requested the explicit images via social media to boys he met through the South Jersey Elite Baron's Soccer Academy, where he was a coach, the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release.
Ferrari is charged with manufacturing child pornography and multiple counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He surrendered to police Tuesday and was being held at the Salem County Correctional Facility.
In a letter to parents, the academy's directors said the incidents happened between December 2018 and February of this year. They added that Ferrari, who had passed a background check that raised no red flags before he was hired, resigned as a coach in August of last year.
The directors only learned of Ferrari's behavior last week, when the son of a coach told him about it, they said in their letter. They then reported Ferrari to police, the directors said.
The academy has been cooperating in the investigation, the GCPO said.
Both prosecutors and academy directors asked anyone who may have also been a victim of Ferrari's to contact Lt. Stacie Lick, of the prosecutor's office's Special Victims Unit, at 856-384-5608.
