CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer / cincinnati.com
May 7, 2026
By Kevin Grasha
Ursuline Academy’s now-former varsity lacrosse coach possessed more than 5,000 images and videos of children being sexually abused while he was coaching at the school, prosecutors said.
Dominic Bellissemo was indicted May 6 by a Hamilton County grand jury on 27 counts involving child sexual abuse material.
Investigators said Bellissemo, 31, admitted paying for the images and videos, which were stored on his cellphone and laptop. At least some of the videos involved girls between the ages of 2 and 8, according to court documents.
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One of the videos, which was saved to his cellphone photo app, showed a 2-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by an adult male, according to the documents. The video was labeled Jan. 2, 2020. Other videos were labeled as 2015 and 2017.
Bellissemo was fired by the all-girls Catholic school on April 28, the same day school officials were made aware of the allegations.
A school spokeswoman has previously said there is no information that the material involved Ursuline students or the school’s Blue Ash campus.
According to a LinkedIn page, Bellissemo had worked at the school since 2018 as an assistant coach for the soccer and lacrosse teams. This year was his first as head coach of the lacrosse team.
His attorney, Jamie Turner, did not respond to messages seeking comment.
In a statement, Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich called the allegations “sickening.” She said people who exploit children often rely on the trust placed in them by families and the community.
“The betrayal of trust makes allegations like these particularly disturbing,” Pillich said. “My office will pursue justice aggressively and do everything within our authority to protect children and hold offenders accountable.”
Bellissemo, of Green Township, has been held at the Hamilton County Justice Center since he was arrested April 28.
Last year, Colin Higgins, a former Ursuline teacher, pleaded guilty in Butler County to possessing child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to 150 days in jail and five years of probation.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ursuline coach had 5K videos, images of child sex abuse, officials say