Basketball coach Jaydon Beveridge charged with grooming teen girls for sex
The son of former NBL basketball coach Rob Beveridge has been charged with grooming teenage girls for sex. Jaydon Beveridge, 21, is accused of grooming several girls, aged 14 to 16, he coaches in Wollongong via social media.
NSW
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The son of former NBL coach Rob Beveridge will face court next month charged with grooming teenage girls for sex over a three-year period.
Jaydon Beveridge is accused of grooming several girls in Wollongong, aged between 14 and 16, via social media applications and requesting explicit photographs of them between April 2017 and January 2020.
He is also accused of supplying alcohol to a 15-year-old girl.
In June, detectives from the Wollongong Police District executed a search warrant on the 21-year-old’s home following reports several girls had been groomed by him and seized electronic items for forensic examination.
On Thursday Beveridge was arrested at Wollongong Police Station and charged with grooming a child between the ages of 14 and 16 for unlawful sexual and inciting aggravated indecency with a victim under 16 and under authority of the offender.
Beveridge was granted conditional bail and is due to face Wollongong Local Court on August 11.
Basketball NSW CEO Maria Nordstrom confirmed the Illawarra Basketball Association had informed all parents and members of the association of Beveridge’s arrest and had “offered support through ongoing counselling”.
“BNSW takes the safety of its staff, players, and members extremely seriously. We have conducted our own internal investigation and we are assisting police with their investigation,” Ms Nordstrom said.
“We urge anyone with information to please come forward and report inappropriate behaviour to NSW Police.”
Beveridge has been contacted for comment.
He is the son of Rob Beveridge who has had over 300 games in the NBL as head of Perth Wildcats, Western Sydney Razorbacks and the Illawarra Hawks.
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Rob led the under 20s Australian men’s team to World Championship gold before signing on as the Boomers assistant coach for the 2004 Athens Olympics and the victorious 2006 Commonwealth Games campaign in Melbourne.
The news comes less than a week after The Sunday Telegraph revealed another NSW coach took his own life after being charged with sex offences relating to a 16-year-old boy.
The close-knit NSW junior basketball community was shocked on May 25 when well-known coach Grant Cole was charged with two counts of aggravated sexually touching the 16-year-old after a three-month investigation by the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad.
Police were to allege in court on June 11 that Cole sexually touched the teenager while performing massage treatment at two properties in Orange between June and September 2019.
By then the 58-year-old Cole had moved from Orange to Maitland, where he was set to coach a women’s team.
The victim went to police to protect other victims from further suffering and to encourage them to come forward.
After he did so, at least three more potential victims came forward to police.
The boy’s mother told The Sunday Telegraph the aftermath of her son speaking out had been extremely difficult, as the basketball community, largely unaware of the detail of the charges, used social media to publicly support Cole.