Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes ofwebsite accessibility

Tulare coach charged with sex with a minor


Booking photo of 25-year-old Alec Denney (Courtesy: Tulare PD)
Booking photo of 25-year-old Alec Denney (Courtesy: Tulare PD)
Facebook Share IconTwitter Share IconEmail Share Icon

The Tulare Joint Union High School District issued a news release Thursday morning saying one of its employees has been arrested.

The district says 25-year-old Alec Denney works as a walk-on girls and boys basketball coach.

While the district did not say which school Denney worked at it did say it was working with the police.

The District takes the allegations against Mr. Denney very seriously and is continuing to work with the Tulare Police Department as they investigate this matter.

FOX26 News learned Denney was arrested by the Tulare Police Department and is accused of sex with a child under 16 and "sexual battery by restraint."

The department was notified Wednesday of a possible inappropriate relationship between an assistant girls’ basketball coach and a student at Tulare Western High School.

An investigation was immediately conducted and an arrest was made the same day.

Police say Denney is an "at-will", walk-on coach, and not a teacher in the school district.

On Friday, District Attorney Tim Ward announced criminal charges have been filed against Denney, age 25, for sex offenses against a minor.

Denney is charged with three counts of oral copulation of a person under 16, three counts of oral copulation of a person under 18, two counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object under 18, and one count each of unlawful sexual intercourse, distributing or showing pornography to a minor, contact with a minor for sexual offense, and meeting a minor for lewd purposes. Each count is a felony.

The crimes are alleged to have been committed between November 2019 and August 2020 against a single minor female victim.

Denney is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon where a future court date will be set.

A TCDA Crimes against Children prosecutor will be present at the arraignment to argue against the defendant’s potential release from custody.

If convicted on all charges, Denney faces up to 9 years, 8 months in prison and sex offender registration.

Bail was set at $1,385,000.

Loading ...