Boyertown twirling coach draws jail for improper contact with teen girl

NORRISTOWN » A former Berks County man who authorities said helped coach the Boyertown Legionette Twirlers faces time behind bars for having an inappropriate relationship with a teenage girl he coached.

Anthony Mark Pelliccione, 26, formerly of Bennicoff Road, Maxatawny Township, Berks County, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Wednesday to three to 23 months in the county jail, to be followed by five years’ probation, after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of corruption of a minor in connection with incidents that occurred with a 17-year-old girl in June 2016. At the time of the incidents Pelliccione was 25 years old.

Judge Garrett D. Page, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, also prohibited Pelliccione from “coaching, teaching or volunteering with minors” during the course of his court supervision. The judge said Pelliccione is eligible for the jail’s work release program.

Pelliccione, most recently of Fountain Hill, Lehigh County, also faces an evaluation by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which will determine if he meets criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator. Regardless of that finding, Pelliccione must report his address to state police for 15 years in order to comply with the state’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.

The judge said Pelliccione will be under sex offender supervision during his probationary and parole period.

An investigation of Pelliccione began in June 2016 when New Hanover police received information that a 17-year-old township girl had been having an inappropriate relationship with her “male twirl-

ing coach over the past several months,” according to the criminal complaint.

“Pelliccione had been coaching the Boyertown Legionette Twirlers with his wife for just under a year during which victim was a part of that team,” New Hanover Detective Dekkar Dyas alleged in the arrest affidavit.

During an interview at Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center in Montgomery County, the teenage girl revealed she and Pelliccione had engaged in an inappropriate relationship that included kissing on three occasions in the parking lot of Boyertown Junior High West Center in Colebrookdale Township, Berks County, and in a parking lot

on Reading Avenue in Boyertown, according to the criminal complaint.

A few days after the third kissing incident on June 18, 2016, Pelliccione used a social media application to send the girl a photograph of his penis, detectives said.

“A few days later he sent her another photograph of his penis via Facebook Messenger,” Dyas alleged in the arrest affidavit.

When detectives confronted Pelliccione about the allegations he confessed, stating the inappropriate relationship began over text messaging and “then turned into a romantic relationship,” according to court papers.

“Pelliccione admitted to kissing victim on a prior occasion and to sending her pictures of his penis electronically using his phone on at least one occasion,” Dyas alleged.