Ex-Sacramento high school coach gets maximum prison time for sexual assault on student
A Sacramento Superior Court judge last week gave the maximum prison sentence to a former high school running coach convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.
Judge James McFetridge on Friday sentenced Aaron Daniel Rios, 40, to 16 years and 8 months in prison, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday in a news release. As part of his sentence, Rios will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
A jury on Nov. 15 found Rios guilty of six counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a 15-year-old, one count of forcible digital penetration of a minor and one count of sexual battery by restraint.
Prosecutors said the jury determined “the victim was particularly vulnerable and the defendant took advantage of a position of trust or confidence.”
Rios was a track and cross-country coach at St. Francis Catholic High School in East Sacramento. Rios also coached for Sac Elite Youth Running Club, which he founded.
Prosecutors said Rios first met the girl in 2018, when she was 13 years old and had joined his youth running club. She was a St. Francis High student in March 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions to prevent further spread of the disease shut down the high school’s running program and resulted in Sac Elite athletes running in smaller groups.
Rios began running with the girl in training sessions, which created opportunities for him to be alone with her and gradually develop an inappropriate relationship with her, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The coach downloaded an app onto the girl’s phone that deletes messages after they’re received. Prosecutors said Rios wanted to erase “inappropriate messages” he would send her.
In July 2020, Rios kissed the teen on her mouth and told her it would be their “little secret,” according to the news release.
In another incident, Rios grabbed the teen from behind and forcibly groped her, before he told her not to say anything, prosecutors said.
Sacramento Police Department detectives arrested Rios in August 2020. In an email to parents that week, St. Francis High administrators said school officials had received “a report of inappropriate contact” involving Rios and a student during the previous weekend, and they forwarded that information to law enforcement. Rios had resigned as the school’s track and cross-country coach the preceding week.
On Tuesday, Rios remained in custody at the Sacramento County Jail as he awaited transfer to prison.
