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	Track Coach Charged with Sexual Assault By Brian L. Huchel The Commercial-News March 19, 2010 http://www.commercial-news.com/local/local_story_077212259.html ROSSVILLE — A Rossville church youth minister and track coach for a middle school track team faces accusations he sexually assaulted a teenage boy. Andrew L. Thomas, 46, of Rossville was arrested around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday by a Vermilion County sheriff’s investigator and booked less than an hour later on a preliminary charge of criminal sexual assault. His bond was not immediately set. He appeared Thursday for arraignment in Vermilion County Circuit Court, facing a charge of criminal sexual assault. The count is a Class 1 felony with a maximum punishment of 4-15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Thomas has worked as the track coach at the Rossville-Alvin Grade School. Superintendent Randy Hird said on Tuesday that Thomas will be suspended with pay at this point pending more information in the case. According to the Illinois Elementary School Association, Thomas has coached the seventh- and eighth-grade boys track for at least the last two years. Thomas also is a youth minister for the Rossville Church of Christ. Vermilion County State’s Attorney Randy Brinegar said Thursday that Thomas is accused of illegal sexual acts with a 16-year-old boy sometime between Jan. 1 and Feb. 28. Brinegar confirmed that Thomas had at one time been the track coach for the boy. The charge accuses of Thomas of committing the alleged act against the boy while “in a position of trust,” Brinegar said. Brinegar said an investigation into the case is still ongoing by the Vermilion County Sheriff’s Department and confirmed that the potential exists for charges to be brought against Thomas at a later date. A preliminary hearing for Thomas is set for April. This is the second time in three months that such charges have been leveled as shown up in Vermilion County. In January, Mark List — then an associate pastor at the Danville Christian Academy — was arrested on charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, criminal sexual assault and indecent solicitation of a child. The charges come as a result of accusations made by a student of List at the academy. The events allegedly took place during an 18 month period between February 2008 and August 2009. List pleaded not guilty to the charges during a February preliminary hearing. He was suspended from the academy pending the outcome of the court case, which has a jury trial hearing scheduled for mid-May.
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