Police have arrested a fencing coach on charges of sexually abusing a student at a private Baltimore County athletic facility and are asking other potential victims to come forward.
Alan Merritt Arrowsmith, 32, engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl whom he had been coaching at the Baltimore Fencing Center on West Aylesbury Road in Timonium, county police said.
The victim joined the club in July 2006 and began talking casually with Arrowsmith outside of class and eventually began a romantic relationship.
Kissing andtouching of private areas lead to sexual acts, which occurred in Arrowsmith?s home on the unit block of Sylvan Oak Way in Overlea, in his car and in the men?s locker room at the fencing center, police said.
The victim?s parents discovered the relationship in March and ordered her not to contact Arrowsmith. Police became involved at the end of May after receiving a tip about the relationship.
Club officials did not immediately return a request for comment. Arrowsmith has no prior criminal history in Maryland, according to court records. On the center?s Web site, Arrowsmith is described as a “founding member” who attended high school in New Jersey and was an assistant fencing coach at Somerville High School there in the 1990s.
Police said Arrowsmith was summonsed to appear in court July 9, when he was charged. He was not taken into custody, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10.
In May, a coach at Baltimore County Gymnastics in White Marsh pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing child pornography, including 21 pairs of little girls? panties in his bedroom.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, Patrick Bogan, 41, will likely serve 6 1/2 years in federal prison, register as a sex offender and be monitored by authorities for the rest of his life.
