A former elementary school teacher and field hockey coach at Towson University was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for receipt of child pornography.
John Joseph Kovach Jr., 53, of Reisterstown was an assistant field hockey coach at Towson University and a teacher and coach at a private elementary school in Montgomery County, according to a news release provided by the U.S. attorney for Maryland. Kovach started a field hockey program at the school in Ashton about a decade ago. The release did not name the school.
Baltimore County police were contacted by police in California in 2009 about a man, later identified as Kovach, soliciting what he thought was a 13-year-old girl online, according to the release.
Kovach said he was a youth soccer and swim coach who sneaks "pics" of girls in bikinis and "stuff" at pools, beaches and water parks, according to the release. It said Kovach asked the individual, who he thought was a 13-year-old, sexually explicit questions about her body and sexual activities.
Police found 252 images and nine videos depicting child pornography on his computers, including images depicting children younger than 12 years old engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and images portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct, the release said. Police were able to determine that the pornography was received by Kovach through the Internet.
U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Kovach to five years in prison, followed by supervised release for life.