CINCINNATI — A basketball coach has been arrested and charged with grooming and sexual battery of a student, according to Cincinnati police and court records.
CPD said on March 1, a 16-year-old girl reported an "improper relationship" with a basketball coach; that same day, police arrested 26-year-old Keylan Behanan.
Court documents say Behanan was employed as a coach at Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy (CCPA). In a criminal complaint, a Cincinnati officer wrote that Behanan admitted, during a Mirandized interview on March 1, that he'd had sexual contact with the teen.
Another court document says Behanan "did continuously text, call and engage in conversations about sex and sexually related topics with the 16-year-old victim."
The document also says Behanan admitted to police that he had ongoing conversations with the teen, including about sex with older men.
Behanan is facing two counts of sexual battery and one count of grooming. In court Monday morning, a judge ordered he be held on a $60,000 bond.
In court Monday, Behanan's defense attorney said he'd been a basketball coach for just one year; before that, Behanan worked at Talbert House "for several years," the attorney said.
WATCH: CCPA says student safety is "paramount" after basketball coach's arrest
Rebecca Surendorff, co-founder of Ohioans for Child Protection, credited the WCPO 9 I-Team for drawing lawmakers' attention to the issue and helping make child grooming for sex a crime in Ohio last year.
"It is so important that these kinds of situations are not kept within the youth-serving organization, whether it is a church, athletic organization or a school. It's vital that this actually is handled by police, law enforcement," Surendorff said.
Ohioans for Child Protection has been advocating for stronger laws and policies in the state for seven years now. Surendorff said currently, the CDC estimates that around one in four girls is sexually abused before the age of 18, and one in six boys is exploited in early childhood.
Surendorff said in over 60% of those cases, research has found that the person exploiting the child already knew them in their offline life. She told us she encourages having discussions about safety with your children.
Ohio passed Erin's Law in 2022. In part, it requires schools to provide age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention education. Surendorff said ensuring children have the training that comes with Erin's Law is important.
"Sadly, Erin's Law does not apply to any children in our private school system, but parents can still ask if their school equally protects their kids with Erin's Law training," Surendorff said.
We reached out to CCPA for comment. Superintendent Guyton Mathews responded with a written statement that says Behanan no longer works for the school.
"This morning Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy became aware of allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by a seasonal employee, whose employment has since ended," reads the statement from Mathews. "The safety and wellbeing of our students is of paramount importance at CCPA and our administration is taking all available steps to protect our students and fully cooperate with law enforcement during this investigative process."
We also reached out to Talbert House for comment Monday. Teri Nau, vice president of community and donor relations, sent us the following statement:
"Talbert House was made aware of the criminal charges involving the individual referenced in your coverage. At no time did this individual work with youth through Talbert House, and the allegations are not related to his employment with our organization. Talbert House takes the safety and well‑being of the people we serve extremely seriously. We will cooperate fully with law enforcement if requested."
