The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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December 4, 2008

Former coach bound over on additional sex charges

By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

A former high-school basketball coach was bound over for trial Thursday on additional counts alleging he had sexual relations in June with a 16-year-old girl from Webb City.

The girl was the lone witness to testify at a preliminary hearing for Joshua Joseph Long, 30, of Oronogo, in Jasper County Circuit Court in Joplin.

At the conclusion of her testimony, Associate Judge Richard Copeland found probable cause for Long to stand trial on two additional counts of second-degree statutory rape and ordered the defendant to make an initial appearance Dec. 15 in a trial division of the court.

Long was ordered at a hearing on Oct. 30 to stand trial on a third count of second-degree statutory rape involving the same girl.

Long now is accused of having sex with the girl on three occasions at his home.

Copeland overruled a motion by Long’s attorney, Andy Woody, of Springfield, to have the two additional counts dismissed.

Long had been hired to be the girls basketball coach this year at East Newton High School at Granby. He was forced to resign when the allegations arose this summer, and he was charged Aug. 1. Authorities at the time said Long previously had been employed as a coach for the McDonald County and Carl Junction school districts.

The girl testified Thursday that the two alleged sexual encounters took place between June 12 and 30 on the couch and living-room floor of Long’s home, but she could not give exact dates or times under cross-examination.

Also under cross-examination by Woody, the girl denied having told any of her girlfriends about the encounters. She testified that she did not tell anyone until July 4. She said that once word got around, and school officials and an investigator from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department approached her about it, she told them it was “just a rumor.” She said she later acknowledged the incidents to officials with the Children’s Center.

“I told (the sheriff’s investigators) that it wasn’t true,” she said.

She previously testified that she had sex with Long in the kitchen of his home on June 12. She also reiterated that her relationship with him began toward the end of last school year and included almost daily texting of messages to each other via cell phones.

She also told the court that Long had sent her by phone a picture of himself shirtless, and that she had sent back two nude pictures of herself.

Staff writer Jeff Lehr contributed to this report.





Statutory rape



Missouri law defines first-degree statutory rape as having sexual intercourse with someone younger than 14. Second-degree statutory rape is defined as someone 21 or older having sexual intercourse with someone younger than 17.

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