Jury convicts former volleyball coach of four counts of lewdness

A youth volleyball coach faces up to 40 years in prison after he was convicted on four counts of lewdness with a minor by a jury on Wednesday night.

Richard Alexander Jenkins, 48, was remanded to the custody of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office without bail after the jury took roughly four hours to return a verdict.

Prosecutor Chelsea Mazza showed the jury video clips from what she described as romantic behavior between Jenkins and a 13-year-old player from the Douglas County Community Center.

In the clips, Jenkins and the girl can be seen behaving in an intimate manner.

“It was a romantic embrace that started this case,” Mazza said in her closing.

The jury believed the charges that he touched the girl’s posterior and put his hands down her pants four times, three of which occurred at the center.

In her closing argument, Mazza said Jenkins made the girl feel special during the summer of 2018 when she’d lost someone who was close to her.

The close contact led witnesses to report their behavior to the authorities in September 2018.

Mazza acknowledged that the videos themselves don’t show Jenkins doing what he was charged with, they do establish a pattern that supported the victim’s story.

The victim testified last week.

Defense attorney Theresa Ristenpart argued during closing that the girl’s testimony was the only real evidence in the case, saying that the videos showed a few moments between the two.

A July 1 sentencing date has been set where the victim will have an opportunity to provide an impact statement.

Under Nevada law, Jenkins will be required to register as a sex offender.