Ex-coach pleads not guilty to sex charges

A former teacher and football coach at West Geauga High School has pleaded not guilty after been indicted by the Geauga County grand jury on charges of third-degree felonious sexual battery and gross sexual imposition for improper contact with a student.

Louis Cirino was indicted on charges that he engaged in sexual conduct with a student at West Geauga between Dec. 21, 2009, and Dec. 20, 2010.

The 40-year-old Columbia Station resident was also charged with engaging in sexual conduct with someone under the age of 13 between Dec. 21, 2004, and Dec. 20, 2005.

The victim is the same in both counts of the indictment, according to Chester Township Police Chief Craig Young.

According to court documents, Cirino entered a plea of not guilty in a hearing at which he appeared on video in front of Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn J. Paschke. A $10,000 bond was set of which the 10 percent surety was paid and Cirino was released from jail with the provision of having no contact with the alleged victim.

The grand jury also specified Cirino as a sexually violent predator, according to the indictment.

According to Young, the department was made aware of the allegations in early December 2023 and after an “exhaustive effort” by the detective bureau in cooperation with the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office and county prosecutor’s office investigators, Cirino was arrested on April 12.

“There is only one victim, one individual in the indictment, but it is always a possibility others could come forward and it is something we are looking into,” Young said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our detectives and the work they did with such limited information to start with. They worked countless hours on this and worked with the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office as well as the prosecutor’s office to make the arrest.”

Cirino was the head football coach at West Geauga from 2010 to 2016. In early 2017, he left the Wolverines and took the same position at Strongsville. He was fired as the Strongsville head football coach in December for reasons not related to the grand jury indictment.

Cirino on April 15 pled not guilty in Geauga County Common Pleas Court.