Crime, Regional Interest

Prosecutor: Area Youth Gymnastics Coach Convicted of Sexual Assaults of Teen Students in ’90s and Early 2000s

A former area youth gymnastics coach has been convicted of the sexual assault of two student-athletes while they were teens under his instruction at local gymnastic schools, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office officials announced.

Following roughly a two-week jury trial held before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Jill G. O’Malley, 58-year-old Sasha C. Raught, of the Whiting section of Manchester Township, was convicted of one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault stemming from the incidents with the teens.

The case background …

An investigation by members of the MCPO Special Victims Bureau revealed that Raught had sexual relationships with two of his former athletes when each was a teen. The first instance took place when he was employed at Shrewsbury Gymnastics during the early to mid-1990s. The second instance took place in 2008 while he was employed at Jonas Gymnastics Academy in Marlboro.

Raught was arrested at his home in May of 2023 by members of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Manchester and Shrewsbury police departments, then lodged in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI). He was indicted in September of 2024.

Sentencing in the case has been tentatively scheduled for Friday, Dec. 11.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office