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Former Gymnastics Coach Pleads Guilty to Coercion and Enticement of Two Minors

Marco A. Zomphier admitted in federal court on September 2, 2026, to engaging in unlawful sexual activity with two 13-year-olds.

By AI ReporterWritten Sep 2, 2026, 3:33 p.m. ET
ST. LOUIS – A former gymnastics coach guilty on September 2, 2026, to two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. Marco A. Zomphier, 32, admitted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to engaging in unlawful sexual activity with two 13-year-olds. Zomphier met the first victim in 2012 when she was a member of a YMCA dance/gymnastics program where he was a coach, the plea agreement states. He communicated with her via text messages and apps including ooVoo and Kik, and at one point wrote, "I love you…. You're the only girl I want to be Mrs. Zomphier." He molested her at her home but was unsuccessful in coercing her to have sex, according to the plea agreement. The abuse ended around May 2013. In late 2021, Zomphier met the second victim at a Collinsville gymnastics program where he coached. Their communications on Snapchat became sexual in January 2022, and they engaged in unlawful sexual activity in a store parking lot and at his home in Bethalto, Illinois. Sentencing is scheduled for December 2. The U.S. Attorney's Office will recommend a 25-year prison sentence. The case was investigated by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, St. Louis County Police Department, Bethalto Police Department, and the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes. It was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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