UPDATE: Basketball coach arrested on molestation charges

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Adds background information on the suspect, including additional SCV schools where he coached

Detectives with the Sheriff’s Department’s Special Victims Unit arrested a basketball coach on 13 charges in connection with allegations regarding the inappropriate touching of at least eight teenage boys, sheriff’s officials said.

Jeremy Haggerty, 34, was arrested this morning and transported to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.

A detective with the Special Victims Unit confirmed the charges Thursday, as well as officials’ suspicion there might be additional victims.

“My understanding is that he was living in Orange County and he was working at a school there,” said Sgt. Brian Hudson, declining to release the name of the Orange County school.

“Our fear is there are more victims,” Hudson said, “due to the timeframe… we’ve identified victims going back as far as 2008.”

Hudson confirmed initially the suspect, Haggerty, briefly was involved with the Trinity Classical Academy as a coach, and also worked with several other schools in the area.

Detectives say they have found no evidence the alleged incidents occurred on a local school campus, and all of the alleged incidents reportedly took place in one-on-one training sessions involving the coach and the player-victim.

Before Trinity, Haggerty was an assistant coach at West Ranch High during the 2012-13 season and he spent nearly eight years on-and-off as an assistant at Canyon High, according to previous reports in The Signal. Haggerty was a star shooting guard at Canyon before graduating in 2002.

He played a year at Community College of Southern Nevada, but the school discontinued its basketball program after the 2003 season. After that, he played a year at Eastern Arizona Community College.

After taking a break from playing while assisting under the head coach at Canyon High, Haggerty returned to the court to play out two more college seasons at The Master’s College in 2007-09. He was announced as Trinity’s coach in August 2014 and resigned in 2016.

Officials with the William S. Hart Union High School District did not respond to a request for comment as of the publication of this story.

Haggerty was arrested on 13 counts alleging child molestation, which also included sexual battery charges, according to Hudson.

Trinity released a statement in response to the initial allegations in August.

Trinity Classical Academy co-founder Wally Caddow said the individual was working as a private basketball coach in the area and he also coached students from other area schools. Caddow said the allegations did not involve the campus in any way.  

Liz Caddow, Trinity’s head of school, issued the following statement to parents once the school learned of the investigation:

“Dear Trinity Families,

“Trinity Classical Academy’s administration has been made aware of an active investigation of a former employee, varsity boys’ basketball coach. The allegations consist of inappropriate conduct with a former, now-adult student for incidents that occurred several years ago. The incidents did not occur within the confines of Trinity Classical Academy’s campus, nor in the employee’s official employment capacity, but occurred with a student who participated in private training with this individual. His employment status at Trinity Classical Academy ended in 2016. For the protection of this student, their family, and our school community, please pray for this situation. Also be mindful of your discussions and please refrain from any discussion/posting, etc., on social media. Please direct any questions directly to me.”

The District Attorney’s Office filed the charges Monday, Hudson said.

Haggerty was being held Thursday at the SCV Sheriff’s Station in lieu of $300,000 bail.

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