INDIANAPOLIS -- Federal prosecutors filed child pornography charges Thursday against an Avon youth volleyball coach.
Jerry Boucher, 43, is charged with 11 counts allegedly he downloaded and stored pornographic images of children on his computer.
Boucher previously worked as a club volleyball coach for Circle City Athletics, where he coached teams in the 13-17 age group.
According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court Thursday, an agent with the Department of Homeland Security tasked with investigating child pornography tracked a torrent file to a computer belonging to Boucher.
The file reportedly contained 162 sexually explicit images of children.
Agents served a search warrant on Boucher's home on August 17. There, they reportedly located a 4 terabyte external hard drive containing multiple video and image files of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
According to the criminal complaint, Boucher admitted to downloading the files.
"He states that he first saw child pornography online in 1997, but claimed that he had only been downloading and storing the child pornography for the last month," the complaint says. "He said that he collected the material because he was curious."
In a statement released Thursday, Avon High School – where Boucher previously worked as a "lay assistant volleyball coach" – said Boucher was not a teacher and had not been employed by Avon Schools since December 2011:
Law enforcement contacted us today about an investigation and anticipated arrest of a former lay Avon High School assistant volleyball coach. This person was not a teacher and has not been employed by Avon Schools since December of 2011. He is being investigated for allegations related to child pornography. We understand the individual is currently employed by Circle City Volleyball Club which is not a part of the Avon Community Schools.
Given that AHS Head Volleyball Coach Scott McQueen is co-owner of the Circle City Volleyball Club, Coach McQueen is now on leave until law enforcement has completed its investigation. He will not attend practice nor interact with the players until we have a chance to learn more about the pending investigation. We want to be clear: we have no evidence or information that Coach McQueen has done anything inappropriate. As principal of Avon High School, my first responsibility is the safety of your children and therefore we will err on the side of caution.
Boucher had an initial appearance before a magistrate judge Thursday. As of Thursday afternoon, he remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshal's Service.
