10/11/2021- 3:34 p.m.
California— A former Shadow Hills High School boys’ basketball coach pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl he coached.
Ryan Leron Towner, 35, was arrested June 10 stemming from a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation. The alleged conduct occurred between May and July 2018, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
Towner is charged with one felony count each of lewd acts on a child under 14 years old with force and unlawful intercourse with a minor, who was identified in court papers only as “Jane Doe.”
During his arraignment at the Larson Justice Center on Tuesday, Towner pleaded not guilty to the charges and was scheduled for a felony settlement conference on Nov. 18.
He remains free after posting $55,000 bond.
Investigator Joshua Reinbolz said authorities began investigating Towner in April.
Towner coached the girl on a travel basketball team, according to Reinbolz, who did not go into the circumstances of the alleged crimes.
It was unclear how old the girl was when Towner allegedly sexually assaulted her.
Towner coached the Shadow Hills boys’ basketball team from 2018 through most of the 2021 season. He did not coach the team for its final 10 games and was fired by the Indio school a few days before his arrest, the Desert Sun reported.
It was unclear whether his firing stemmed from the allegations.
Towner has a prior felony conviction for credit card fraud.
