Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SOUTH JORDAN — A high school wrestling coach has been arrested and accused of inappropriate conduct with a 17-year-old student.
Anthony Jordan Wanlass, 29, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Friday for investigation of sexual exploitation of a minor, unlawful sexual conduct with a 17-year-old, dealing in harmful materials to a minor and enticing a minor by text.
Several wrestlers from Bingham High School had contacted school administrators about Wanlass, one of the school's wrestling coaches, "doing inappropriate things" with a girl at the school, according to a police booking affidavit. The school resource officer, who also works for the South Jordan Police Department was contacted on Feb. 1.
The students were interviewed and told the officer that the girl had "mentioned being in a relationship with this particular coach." The girl sent messages to the other students that talked about "the coach having a bad marriage and that she was helping him through it," as well as at least one message talking about performing a sexual act with Wanlass in the equipment closet at Bingham High, the affidavit alleges.
When the girl was interviewed, police said she was "not forthcoming with information" to school administrators or officers. The girl's parents, however, gave administrators permission to look through their daughter's phone. When they did, police found explicit photographs that the girl had sent to Wanlass on Snapchat as well as sexual conversations, according to the affidavit.
A formal search warrant was then served on the phone by police and additional explicit photographs and videos of Wanlass were found, the affidavit states.
The Jordan School District released a brief statement to KSL.com, saying that Wanlass was an assistant wrestling coach but is no longer employed by the district. He worked for six years as a wrestling coach, but "did not work in any other capacity for us," the district said.
Correction: The affidavit says police were first contacted on Jan. 1, but it was actually Feb. 1, according to the district.
