Ex-Life University coach faces new child sex charges in Cobb County

Ron Gorman (Credit: Monroe County, Pa., District Attorney's Office)

Ron Gorman (Credit: Monroe County, Pa., District Attorney's Office)

A newly filed warrant in Cobb County shows that a former wrestling coach allegedly molested a 14-year-old boy at his Marietta home in July 2010.

Ron Gorman, a former coach at Life University, now faces a combined 515 charges on accusations he sexually assaulted two boys between 2006 and 2011 in East Stroudsburg, Pa., and Marietta. The latest charges come a week after he was denied bond reduction in the Pennsylvania case.

Gorman remains in a Pennsylvania jail on a $1 million bond, something his attorney Brett Riegel said is unusual for their court system.

“In other cases, wealthier people have gotten a quarter of the bond that he was given,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Riegel said he was not aware of the Cobb County warrant and couldn’t comment on it.

According to the Cobb warrant, Gorman invited the Pennsylvania boy to his home for a massage and “then would transition to giving the victim oral sex.” The warrant said Gorman also requested oral sex from the victim.

Allegations against Gorman surfaced in February after a Cobb County mother found other potential victims on social media. She said she found messages between her son and Gorman, then a volunteer wrestling coach at Pope High School, in 2011.

The mother, whose son is not a part of either case, wanted her identity concealed in an interview Thursday with Channel 2 Action News.

She was relieved Cobb County authorities issued new charges against Gorman, but wished it would have happened sooner.

“It’s going to open up conversations with the local community to get people talking about what may have happened,” she said, “so that we can bring justice or closure to those that may have been affected.”

In 2015, Cherokee County officials said they received a complaint that Gorman solicited a child under the age of 16. Lt. Jay Baker said investigators were aware of the allegations in Pennsylvania and Cobb County at the time, but that there likely wasn’t enough physical evidence.

Such could be the case in Gorman’s Pennsylvania trial. Riegel said there hasn’t been forensic evidence that gives credibility to the claims.

No trial has been set for Gorman, who is expected to be extradited back to Cobb County following any court proceedings in Pennsylvania.