WELLESLEY, MASS. (WHDH) - A former Wellesley High School lacrosse coach has been arrested and is now facing child pornography possession charges, the district’s superintendent confirmed.
An investigation that was months in the making led police to 44-year-old Ryan Cook, who had previously served as a volunteer with the boys’ team, and after a search warrant Tuesday, investigators discovered a slew of disturbing images on his electronic devices.
State Police records show that numerous files are suspected of being child pornography, with police describing many of the files as “child erotica.” A sampling of images the officer viewed shows a female child in various compromising sexual positions, as well as others “containing children, approximately 5-11 years old in various stages of undress where the focuses of the images were their genitalia and undeveloped breasts,” the report said.
Several images were of photoshopped females placed over the images of child sexual abuse imagery, and Cook’s wife identified the faces as belonging to two neighborhood girls. Several other clothed images of the children investigators found appeared to be taken in Cook’s yard.
“It’s much worse than we thought,” said neighbor Gary Wu. “Especially it’s just not about himself like he’s taking pictures of kids in this area.”
Both Cook and his wife were home when officers entered the home Tuesday. Cook’s wife then left to pick up their children after officers showed them the warrant. The report said Cook refused to speak with investigators about the investigation.
“I saw kids going through their yard and playing with the kids. I can’t believe people would do that,” Wu said. “It’s really surprising to me.”
Wellesley Public Schools released a statement that said they are aware of Cook’s charges soon after police discovered Cook was a volunteer coach at the local high school.
“We recognize that this news is difficult and, as always, our WPS counselors are available to offer support for any students at our schools,” Wellesley Public Schools said in its statement Tuesday.
Parents said this incident is a wake-up call they didn’t know they needed in this otherwise quiet neighborhood.
“We need to keep an eye on them,” said Wu. “I still think a lot of the neighbors here are really good people, it’s a good neighborhood so it’s just that we need to watch out with that.
Cook’s bail is set at $10,000 and is ordered to stay away from all children under the age of 15. A judge has also banned him from the town altogether.
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