High School Football Coach Allegedly Caught On Video Stealing From Student's Locker
Police said that a video set up to catch the locker thief captured John Roanhaus taking $40 from a student’s wallet and putting it in his sock for safekeeping.
A high school football coach in New Mexico was arrested over the weekend after police say he was secretly filmed stealing money from one of his student athletes.
John Roanhaus, 42, was arrested Saturday on charges of burglary, a fourth-degree felony, and larceny, a petty misdemeanor, according to KVII, an ABC/CW affiliate based out of Amarillo, Texas. Roanhaus, a Clovis resident, was the head football coach at Miyamura High School in Gallup, New Mexico, where the alleged burglary occurred, according to police, who were notified of the situation on Oct. 2.
Roanhaus’ alleged crime was reported by the mother of one of his players, who told New Mexico State Police that she possessed evidence of the coach stealing money out of her son’s locker, The Eastern New Mexico News reports. The anonymous reporting party told Officer Nathaniel Ray Renteria that Roanhaus had stolen money from her son before, and stated that a cell phone had been set up to film Roanhaus in the act of stealing yet again, according to the outlet.
Renteria wrote that he watched a video that showed Roanhaus opening the locker of one of his players, grabbing a wallet stored inside, taking $40 in cash out of the wallet, and then stashing the money inside of his sock, according to a report obtained by the paper.
Authorities issued a warrant for Roanhaus’ arrest on Friday; he was taken into custody the following day without incident and booked at McKinley County Detention Center in Gallup, KVII reports.
Roanhaus is scheduled to appear at McKinley County Magistrate Court for a hearing on Wednesday, according to The Eastern New Mexico News.
Roanhaus is the son of Hall of Fame coach Eric Roanhaus, and was named the head coach at Miyamura prior to the start of the 2018 season, the Albuquerque Journal reports. School officials fired Roanhaus on Thursday, and he has since been replaced by another staff member, former defensive coordinator David Foley, according to the outlet.
The disgraced coach does not appear to have an attorney representing him in this case, according to The Eastern New Mexico News, which was unable to reach him for comment.