Police: Rockledge gymnastics coach accused of molesting student during road trip

ROCKLEDGE, Fla. — A 39-year-old gymnastics coach was arrested Thursday afternoon after he was accused of molesting a student during a road trip, the Rockledge Police Department said.

Ronald Hartsfield, who coaches at Viera Gymnastics, went on a road trip to Texas with a student in May to deliver a boat, Rockledge police Lt. Donna Seyferth said.

Hartsfield told the victim's family that either his wife would be joining them on the trip, but it wasn't until he picked up the girl that he revealed it would just be the two of them, a police report said.

The child told investigators that Hartsfield touched her in a sexual manner multiple times during the trip, the report said.

Detectives said that when Hartsfield learned that an investigation was underway, he wrote a letter to police saying that the victim was being "hypersexual."

“The victim reported some very disturbing accounts as to what happened on that trip and to that end, we are actually still investigating,” said Lt. Donna Seyferth of the Rockledge Police Department.

Hartsfield said in the letter that he took the child on a road trip to Texas and touched the victim's thigh, police said.

But during an interview with detectives, Hartsfield denied touching the victim in a sexual manner, the report said.

Hartsfield was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a child under 12 and booked into the Brevard County Jail.

A judge denied him bond Friday afternoon after prosecutors said he was a flight risk. .

Investigators said they're concerned there could be more victims. They ask any other possible victims to call Rockledge police or Crimeline.

Cox Media Group