COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former Worthington Christian High School girls basketball coach accused of having sex with two female students on his team now faces federal charges.
Jason Dawson, 35, was federally charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography on Tuesday.
Dawson was arrested in North Carolina in March and extradited to Columbus earlier this month.
According to Franklin County Municipal Court records, Dawson was already charged for allegedly having sex with the two former students, who are now both over 18 years old.
Federal court documents say the women began talking to each other last year and learned that they were both in a sexual relationship with Dawson during the same time frame when they were 16 years old from November 2021 to October 2022. One of the women previously said in court documents that her relationship with Dawson lasted until September 2023.
In November 2023, the women told law enforcement they had sex with Dawson, who was their basketball coach, and that sometimes he would record them.
Records say one woman provided police with her phone, which contained four videos of her and Dawson with metadata indicating they were filmed between November 2021 and October 2022. The second woman gave police text messages between her and Dawson as well as a video of the two having sex.
Detectives interviewed Dawson in March 2024 after he was arrested. Records say that during the interview, Dawson remembered making and sending videos with the former students.
The head of school at Worthington Christian released a statement last month calling the allegations "despicable, criminal, and against everything we stand for and teach."