Images found on a cheerleading coach’s cell phone led to his arrest for having sex with a 14-year-old student Saturday, Aug. 25.
Alexander A. Oouch, 24, of Latham Village Apartments was arrested on felony charges of rape, criminal sexual act, possessing a sexual act by a child and use of a child in a sexual performance. He has also been charged with misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child.
According to police, Oouch, a coach with X-Factor’s All Stars Cheer and Dance Gym in Colonie, had been in a relationship with the student taking private lessons over the course of a year and a half. For the past eight months he had been sexually active with the teen, said Colonie Police Chief Steven Heider.
It is a classic case of somebody taking advantage of their position. It started with the development of a relationship, he said.
Every Saturday for half an hour, the two had contact with each other at private lessons. At some point, the physical contact led to inappropriate touching, which then led to sexual touching and sex.
The relationship came to an end the night of Friday, Aug. 24, when two acquaintances of the victim were at Oouch’s apartment. Oouch left on an errand, leaving his cell phone behind.
`They started playing with his cell phone and found inappropriate pictures with him and the victim,` Heider said.
The two immediately tried to make contact with the owner of the dance gym. When they didn’t get through, they took the phone to the mother of another gym member. At around 11 p.m. Friday she called police. Eight hours later Oouch was in custody.
The phone has since been turned over to forensic experts, said Heider, and the investigation into Oouch’s relationship with the victim continues.
Oouch was arraigned in Town Court and sent to Albany County jail pending a Wednesday, Aug. 29, court appearance.
Police are asking parents of children who made have had contact with Oouch, as many as 175 students over the course of the last year and a half, to call them at 783-2744.“