Tennis ace’s dad on child sex counts
SAN Diego-based tennis coach Nikolaos “Nick” Philippoussis will face 14 counts of sex offences against minors, including two counts of sexual acts with a child younger than 10 years.
The Australian national, 68, the father of former tennis champ Mark Philippoussis, was arrested on Tuesday at his San Diego home.
Police said Mr Philippoussis offered no resistance and was taken to jail after a short but intensive investigation.
“There are two victims, both minors, and we’re not identifying their sex at this time,” said Lieutenant Greg Rylaarsdam, of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Central Investigations Unit.
Lt Rylaarsdam said the District Attorney applied to a Superior Court judge for an arrest warrant based on the complaints from students he was coaching. The judge granted a request that bail be set at $US2.5 million ($A3.1 million).
Mr Philippoussis is segregated away from mainstream prisoners due to the nature of the complaints.
He likely will face arraignment overnight, where the charges will be formally read and the nature of the complaints will be made clearer.
“They are felony charges which carry state prison potential,” Lt Rylaarsdam said.
“We’re not releasing lots of information to protect the victims. At this point we’re saying younger than 14.”
Police said Mr Philippoussis had been arrested for “multiple counts of lewd and lascivious acts with two minor victims”.
The Sheriff’s Department has 72 hours to produce an inmate for arraignment. He is expected to appear and be asked to enter a plea.