A strength coach at a Cobb County softball training facility is accused of having more than 30 sexual encounters with a teenager, Marietta police said Tuesday.
Investigators said they believe there could be additional victims.
Isuru Pasan Perera, 31, of Marietta faces a long list of charges including cruelty to children and aggravated sexual battery, both felonies. The assaults happened over two years in his closed, locked office at the Champions Fast Pitch Academy, and occurred without the victim’s consent, according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Perera was arrested Saturday and was being held without bond Tuesday in Cobb County jail, booking records show. A probable cause hearing has been set for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 10, a spokeswoman for the Cobb County Magistrate Court said.
Alan Manheim, Perera’s attorney, declined to discuss the case, which remains under investigation.
In a statement released through a public relations firm, Champions said Perera had been placed on administrative leave after the allegations were made.
“We took steps to advise everyone with an interest in this matter as soon as we were made aware of the allegations,” Champions said in the statement.
The crimes began in June 2010 when the girl was 16 years old, the warrant states. Though 16 is the legal age of consent in Georgia, the crimes allegedly occurred without the victim’s consent and caused her mental anguish and pain, according to police.
Perera is also charged with computer pornography, a felony, and obscene material distribution, a misdemeanor, jail records show. While in his office with the victim, Perera, who was the girl’s coach/trainer, showed her pornographic images on his laptop computer, according to police.
“The accused would then talk to the victim about his sexual fantasies and how they related to the pornographic images that he was showing the victim,” Perera’s arrest warrant states.
Additional charges against Perera include sodomy and misdemeanor sexual battery.
“This is deeply troubling to all of us here,” the softball academy said in its statement. “We are committed to working every day to help young women achieve their athletic dreams. We are heartsick.”
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Moeller with Marietta police at 770-794-2366.
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