Youth baseball coach to plead guilty to raping Seabrook teen
BRENTWOOD — A former youth baseball coach from Bedford is expected to plead guilty to charges that he raped a Seabrook teenager in 2017.
Prosecutors say Curran Shane, 33, a former baseball coach in the Bedford School District, abused a teenage girl between the ages of 13 and 16. They say Shane was told “no” and “stop it” by the girl when he forcibly had sex with her and the abuse took place between January and May of 2017.
Shane was originally charged with three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, two counts of felonious sexual assault and one count of witness tampering for allegedly telling the victim not to tell anyone what happened.
As part of a plea deal, Shane will plead guilty to two charges — one each of aggravated felonious sexual assault and felonious sexual assault.
He was scheduled for a capped plea and sentencing on Thursday, March 21, in which prosecutors and his attorney would argue his sentence before a judge in Rockingham Superior Court. The hearing, however, was canceled due to a scheduling conflict, according to prosecutor Katelyn Nicole Brown. A new date has not yet been scheduled.
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Court documents show a capped sentence between 5 and 12 years in prison will be argued before Judge David Ruoff when the hearing is rescheduled. The judge also has the power to hand down a harsher sentence than what the prosecutors are recommending, according to court documents. That would be a sentence between 10 and 20 years.
Prosecutors indicated in court documents they will seek up to 12 years for the aggravated felonious sexual assault count. For the felonious sexual assault charge, they seek a 7-year suspended sentence.
The state recommended Shane undergo treatment. A court filing indicates he would be able to have one year of his minimum sentence suspended if he completes treatment.
Shane worked in the Bedford School District as a JV baseball coach, paraprofessional, extended school year staff member and co-curriculum facilitator on and off from 2013 to 2022, Bedford Superintendent Mike Fournier said in a letter to families at the time of Shane’s arrest.
Shane’s attorney, Joseph Welsh, did not return a call seeking comment.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Youth baseball coach to plead guilty to raping Seabrook teen
