Catholic School Basketball Coach Arrested on Teen Sex Charges

By Sue Epstein
NJ.com
June 5, 2015

http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2015/06/edison_catholic_school_basketball_coach_arrested_o.html#incart_most-read_

Darren Ventre, volunteer athletic director and girls' basketball coach at St. Matthew the Apostle Church in Edison, arrested and facing sex charges with a minor. (Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office)

The coach of the girls' basketball team at St. Matthew the Apostle Church in Edison was charged Friday with repeatedly performing a sex act in the presence of a 14-year-old girl, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced.

Carey said Darren Ventre, 40, of the Fords section of Woodbridge, was arrested and charged with aggravated criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

The prosecutor said Ventre volunteered as athletic director as well as the girls' basketball coach at the Catholic school.

He said Ventre was arrested and charged during an investigation by county Detective Grace Brown and Woodbridge Township police Detective Tina Small.

The investigation revealed Ventre brought the girl to his house and performed the sex act on a number of occasions over an extended period of time, Carey said.

He said the investigation began after the girl told a counselor, who contacted the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency.

Ventre was in the Middlesex County jail in lieu of $75,000 bail Friday afternoon.

The investigation is continuing, the prosecutor said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Brown at (732) 745-3600 or Detective Small at (732) 643-7700.