A former Shadow Hills High School boys’ basketball coach is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 12 on charges he raped 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 was charged last week 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.”
Towner, who remains out of custody after posting $55,000 bond, is scheduled to be arraigned at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Investigator Joshua Reinbolz said authorities began investigating Towner in April regarding conduct that allegedly occurred between August 2017 and July 2018.
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 raped her.
Sheriff’s officials said back in June that the victim was 16 years old, though it was unclear whether that was when she was allegedly molested or at the time the investigation began.
Towner coached the Shadow Hills boys’ team from 2018 through most of the 2021 season. The Knights won the Division 3-A championship in 2020.
Towner did not coach the team for its final 10 games this season 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.
