UWS Basketball Coach Pleads Guilty To Sex Assaults, DA Says

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An after-school basketball coach at an Upper West Side private school has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two 8-year-old girls in March 2017, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., announced.

Channing Parker, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of first-degree criminal sexual act, prosecutors said. The Bronx resident is expected to be sentenced in November, prosecutors said.

"Channing Parker’s conduct has left an indelible mark on the lives of these two innocent children, and now he will face significant jail time for the pain and trauma he has caused," Vance said in a statement.

Parker began working as a basketball instructor at the IDEAL School in November 2016 through his employer Kids Creative, a nonprofit that runs after-school programs at a number of city schools, prosecutors said. On March 10, 2017, Parker lured an 8-year-old student into a bathroom and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.

The child reported the assault to her mother, which prompted the mother to contact the school. The IDEAL school then reported the incident to the police. After the school notified its parents of the incident, another 8-year-old girl stepped forward to accused Parker of taking her into the same bathroom and sexually assaulting her on March 8, prosecutors told Patch.

The IDEAL school cut ties with Kids Creative after the abuse was reported, a school spokesman told Patch in 2017.

Photo by Shutterstock