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GRANTSVILLE — The head football coach of Grantsville High School was charged Wednesday with multiple counts of misdemeanor sexual battery and lewdness.
Curtis Ware was arrested last week for investigation of unlawful sexual activity and forcible sex abuse of two girls, ages 16 and 17.
But Tooele County Chief Deputy Attorney Gary Searle said Wednesday that the investigation determined there was never any skin-to-skin contact in Grantsville between Ware and the girls, so the case will now be prosecuted by the Grantsville City Attorney's Office.
Ware is charged in Grantsville Justice Court with five counts of sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor, and four counts of lewdness, a class B misdemeanor.
The alleged illegal activity happened between May 23 and Aug. 26, according to charging documents.
Ware, 47, of Stansbury Park, was arrested on Sept. 2 and has since been released from the Tooele County Jail. He is a second-year popular head coach and "long-term substitute teacher" at Grantsville High School.
Police said last week that some illegal activity also happened in Cedar City, but it was not clear whether it was during a school event. That part of the investigation was ongoing Wednesday. The Iron County Attorney's Office was expected to review the case and consider any potential charges in their jurisdiction.
One Grantsville High student made a post on her Facebook page Monday addressing what had happened since Ware's arrest.
"For everyone who hates me, my family, and friends right now, I just wanna say something! I promise if we were lying we would have given up when we got told that we could go to jail for lying. In my opinion anybody that would lie about something like this is a bad person. … We would never lie about something like this," she wrote.
The girl goes on to say that Ware was like a "father figure" to the other alleged victim and that she trusted him.
"This whole situation hurts not only his family but (her), me, my family and my friends," she wrote. "I'm just making this post because I'm sick of all the people talking bad about me, my family and friends! We are hurting just as much or even more than the Ware family."
Ware, a graduate of the school, 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.
