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GRANTSVILLE — Grantsville High School head football coach Curtis Ware has been arrested for investigation of unlawful sexual activity with two teenage girls.
The second-year coach and "long-term substitute teacher" at the school is accused of "multiple incidents" of illegal sexual activity for several months during the 2016 calendar year, said Grantsville Police Chief Kevin Turner.
"So far we've identified two victims, two juvenile females. One is 16 and one is 17," he said. "Some activity occurred in Grantsville City, some occurred in Cedar City."
Both girls were students at Grantsville High, police said. But they said they did not know whether the alleged incidents in Cedar City occurred doing school-related functions.
Ware, 47, of Stansbury Park, taught special needs students, according to the Tooele School District. However, both police and district officials on Friday claimed they didn't know if the alleged victims are special needs students or if they were students in Ware's classroom.
Grantsville High Principal Mark Ernst said the incidents came to light about 11 a.m. Wednesday when two students — not the alleged victims — came to his office with information. By 11:30 a.m., the school resource officer, the school district and police had been notified. Ware was interviewed that afternoon and arrested for investigation of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, forcible sex abuse, sexual battery and lewdness involving a minor.
"It's been an emotional time," a choked up Ernst said during a press conference Friday. "We're a small community. In Grantsville, the school is the heart of that community. It has been difficult for us. It has been difficult on the administration, and difficult on our students."
Few details about the alleged abuse were released Friday. Officials at the Tooele County Jail said the probable cause booking statement, something that used to be given out by the jail through a public records request, had to come from the Tooele County Attorney's Office.
Police said they did not know if some of the incidents happened on school property or not. Turner said his detectives were still putting together a timeline of events.
"(We're) just putting the pieces together," he said.
"You don't want to believe it. I don't know if it's going to turn out to be true or false. My initial reaction is I don't want to believe that this happened with one of my teachers or to some of the students I supervise. Being a principal it's a very personal thing. You look at them as your own kids. And it's heartbreaking to see this happen," Ernst said.
Turner declined to say Friday if any physical evidence, confessions or any evidence outside of the girls' allegations had been collected before Ware was arrested.
"Sure, there's some information that led that way. But also, in dealing with juveniles, our priority is their safety. We have to make sure they're safe and that there's no chance of any further contact or anything else moving forward. So as a precaution as well as information we've received so far, he was taken into custody," Turner said.
As for Ware's future with the school, the district announced that it "is currently following due process for termination."
Ware, a graduate of the school, had been teaching at the school and was hired as head football coach in late 2014. He taught language arts, according to the Grantsville High website. Before that he went back and forth as an assistant coach between Grantsville and Stansbury high schools.
Ernst said as a football coach, Ware was "very well respected in the community."
"One person told me Curtis is probably the best football mind in Tooele County," he said.
School administrators met with members of the football team Friday morning. The team captains also addressed the rest of the team, which was preparing for a rivalry game Friday night against Stansbury High School.
"The coaches don't make the plays on the field for us. We make the plays and that's not going to change," Ernst said the captains told their team.
A letter informing all Grantsville High School parents of what had happened was also sent out, Ernst said.
