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Former Nc'town coach sentenced for relationship with student

The Times Reporter - 6/8/2018

NEW PHILADELPHIA A former Newcomerstown coach was sentenced Wednesday on three charges resulting from a relationship he had with a teenage girl he had formerly coached.

Mario Lovrinic, 30, was sentenced by Judge Elizabeth Lehigh Thomakos in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court on one count each of importuning, intimidating the victim and unlawful restraint.

He was ordered to serve 60 days in the Tuscarawas County jail on the unlawful restraint charge. He will then be released to the Eastern Ohio Correctional Center in Wintersville to participate in the center's sex offender track treatment. He will be there for four to six months.

Upon completion of treatment, Lovrinic will be under five years of supervision, and will be required to register as a Tier I sex offender for 15 years. If he fails to abide by the rules, he could face up to 36 months in prison.

Lovrinic has been held in the county jail since Feb. 15, when his bail was set at $200,000.

Juvenile Prosecutor Amanda Miller told the judge that the danger of recidivism in this case is high.

"We have 3,000 text messages which show Mr. Lovrinic methodically and systematically taking control of this 14-year-old girl," Miller said.

"He took this girl and broke her down until she was completely isolated from her parents, from her family, from her friends, and it's really, really disturbing. But he did a good job. He did it well, and he did it because he is methodical, calculating and careful."

Lovrinic apologized to his family and friends and "everyone who has ever looked up to me as a role model, as a mentor as a leader. I've dedicated my whole life to being a positive influence in people's lives, to being a public servant as yourself," he said, addressing himself to Thomakos.

He took full responsibility for the decisions he had made.

"Evil does not prevail," he told the judge. "I've got good in me, and I've never intended for it to get this ugly."

Lovrinic said he had fallen into "an unfortunate situation."

During her sentencing, the judge remarked that Lovrinic hadn't fallen into the situation, but rather it was a situation he had created.

She also responded to his public servant comment.

"On a personal note, do not even equate what you were doing with me," Thomakos said. "I am a public servant. You are a predator."

Reach Jon at 330-364-8415

or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.

On Twitter:@jbakerTR