Norwalk man convicted of sexual assault was teaching kids boxing, prosecutors say

STAMFORD — A Norwalk man and former tennis instructor convicted of sexually assaulting a 12year-old was sentenced to 90 days of home confinement Wednesday after a judge found he had violated probation by teaching a boxing class to children.

Assistant State’s Attorney Margaret Moscati said Maurice Thomas-Riley, 27, was charged with violation of probation after officials obtained a video of him teaching a youth boxing class. Thomas-Riley, who was convicted of seconddegree sexual assault in 2019, was prohibited from contact with minors as a condition of his probation.

For the violation, Thomas-Riley faced up to seven years and three months in prison.

During a hearing at the state Superior Court in Stamford Wednesday, Moscati argued that it was “extremely troubling” that Thomas-Riley had “put himself back into a position of authority over children.”

“I don’t think he should just get a pass. I don’t think he should just be put on probation,” Moscati said as she argued in favor of jail time for Thomas-Riley.

Public Defender Jared Millbrandt, however, argued it was “counterintuitive” to jail Thomas-Riley given the growth and progress he’d made since being released from jail. He claimed his client had been working adult boxing classes and, when the opportunity for more work arose, he took it.

Millbrandt asked that, instead of jail time, the judge just continue his probation.

After Millbrandt spoke in his defense, Thomas-Riley told Judge Gary White how he had been working hard since his release from jail, citing “a lot of changes” he’s seen since then.

“I know that I’ve made mistakes, Your Honor,” Thomas-Riley said. “I’m just somebody that’s just trying to get back to where I was. I’m trying to get back on track.”

After hearing arguments, White said that while Thomas-Riley “should have known better,” he believed the 27year-old had “shown contrition” for his actions.

White ultimately opted against sentencing Thomas-Riley to any additional jail time. Instead, he imposed 90 days of home confinement and a $1,000 charitable contribution.

“I’m hopeful he won’t violate again, because next time there will be more severe consequences,” warned White on Wednesday.

Thomas-Riley, who taught tennis in Norwalk and Stamford, was convicted of second-degree sexual assault and sentenced to nine months in jail followed by 25 years of probation.

In 2015 when he was 20 years old, Thomas-Riley, a former instructor at Grassroots Tennis in Norwalk, was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault and three counts of risk of injury to a minor.

According to court documents, the Department of Children and Families notified the Special Victims Unit of the Norwalk Police Department in May 2015 that a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a tennis instructor at the Norwalk program.

The Executive Director at Norwalk Grassroots Tennis said at the time that Thomas-Riley had been with the program since he was a child and became a senior coach there and an instructor at the Stamford Tennis and Youth Academy.

Following the allegations, Thomas-Riley was fired from both tennis schools.

Police at the time said the director of the Norwalk tennis program reported that the teen had called her and said that she had been sexually assaulted since 2012, when she was 11 or 12 years old.

After reporting the assault to DCF, police spoke with the teen’s parents, who said they were unaware that the alleged assaults had been occurring.

The teen told police the first incident with ThomasRiley occurred in July 2012, when she was looking for a key that she lost on the tennis courts, and which he and another instructor were helping her find.

When the other instructor left, the teen said Thomas-Riley came up to her and allegedly started touching her and she tried to fight him off. The teen said Thomas-Riley slammed her on the ground and gave her the keys that she had been looking, assaulted her and then told her not to tell anyone about what had happened.

The teen told police she “had never been so scared in her life” during the assault.

Two years later, when Thomas-Riley returned from college in March 2015, he allegedly instructed the victim to help him clean a closet at the tennis program. The victim told police Thomas-Riley sexually assaulted her again. During another alleged assault, the victim said ThomasRiley again told her not to tell anyone about the alleged assaults because “no one would believe her.”