Former Basketball Coach Found Dead After Being Accused of Having Sex with Players
Earlier this month WCHS's former girls basketball coach, Jason Dawson, was arrested in North Carolina for connection he had to allegations made by two of his former players.
Background on Jason Dawson
He was brought back to Ohio last week and charged with 10 counts of sexual battery in Franklin County Commons Pleas Court. Dawson was scheduled to face a judge last Friday but instead, he did not appear in court being on safety watch.
Dawson was released from custody after posting the $105,000 bond the judge had required. Dawson was ordered to stay away from all WC schools, victims, and witnesses involved in the case. A follow-up court date was not available right away.
About Dawson
Dawson coached at Worthington Christian High School as the lead girls' basketball coach for three years, even graduating from the high school himself in 2006. He came back to the school in 2014 after getting hired to be a teacher there and in 2019 he became a coach as well. He left in 2022 to pursue other career opportunities in North Carolina.
On Tuesday, Dawson was hit with federal charges as well after a criminal complaint was filed against him by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In the complaint, he was accused of sexual exploitation of a minor. He was also accused of distributing, receiving, and possessing child porn.
Accusations
The sexual battery charges Dawson received stem from the accusations of two of Dawson's former players and students. The victims alleged that Dawson had sexual relations with them while they were on the basketball team between 2020 and 2022. One victim claimed she and Dawson had engaged in sexual activity around 100 times. While the other victim said that she in Dawson engaged in activity at school.
The federal charges stem from Dawson also filming himself having sex with the victims on multiple occasions. This was confirmed after each victim gave detectives footage of this. Dawson also admitted to making and sending the videos when he was interviewed by detectives. Both victims were underage at the time the alleged sexual activities took place. Dawson pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Jason Dawson's Death
Jason Dawson had listed a house in the 1600 block of Briarwood Avenue as the place he would be living while the case was. On Wednesday, officers from the Columbus Division of Police were called to the house for a reported shooting.
It was around 2:45 p.m. that the officers found Jason Dawson dead at the home. The officers say he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. An autopsy will be done by The Franklin County Coroner's Office, but Dawson's death is not being seen as suspicious.
Before Death
Dawson was on safety watch at his last scheduled court date, but mental health is not often considered when setting bond, stated Dawson's defense attorney, Brad Koffel. Koffel said that he loses 1 to 3 of his clients each year due to suicide.
Koffel
One of the very first things we do is when we get a call from a family of someone who is being accused of a heinous crime like this, we do what we can with our limited expertise, what we can to screen them and 100 percent of the time we refer that man out to a psychologist or therapist to get them help"
Jason Dawson died at the age of 35
Sources
Having thoughts of suicide? Please call 988
Andrew Warren
Sophmore at OOHS