August 13, 2024
FREEHOLD – A Monmouth County Grand Jury has returned a 30-count indictment encompassing additional and upgraded charges against a youth soccer coach accused of engaging in a variety of sexual crimes against student-athletes formerly under his supervision, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced today.
Ryan Gunsauls, 32, of Union Beach is charged with four counts of first-degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child by Manufacturing Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), four counts of second-degree Attempted Endangering via Manufacture of CSAM, eight counts of second-degree Endangering via Sexual Conduct, nine counts of third-degree Distributing Obscene Materials to a Minor, two counts of fourth-degree Criminal Sexual Contact, and single counts of second-degree Endangering via Distribution of CSAM, third-degree Endangering via Sexual Conduct, and third-degree Possession of CSAM.
An investigation involving members of the MCPO Special Victims Bureau and the Union Beach Police Department began earlier this year, when a juvenile disclosed that Gunsauls had been soliciting and distributing sexually explicit materials with him via a social media app. As the investigation continued, eight additional victims, ranging in age from 11 to 17, were identified and contacted for interviews. Gunsauls was arrested without incident in May and transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI). A motion by the Prosecutor’s Office to keep him detained as the case against him proceeds was granted by a Superior Court Judge later the same month.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Keri-Leigh Schaefer of the MCPO Special Victims Bureau. Gunsauls is being represented by Michael J. Pappa, Esq., with an office in Hazlet. Anyone with more information about Gunsauls’s activities is being urged to contact MCPO Detective Joseph Mason at 800-533-7443.
Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.
