Soccer coach arrested Wednesday posts bond
Longtime soccer coach Sanford Kaplan went to jail Wednesday on suspicion of 14 felonies dating back seven years.
Shortly thereafter, the 57-year-old adjunct college professor — accused of child abuse and false imprisonment of six teenage boys and of touching two of them sexually — posted $10,000 of his $100,000 bond and was released. Authorities say Kaplan has never been arrested before.
They also said Kaplan was no longer in protective custody, where he was placed after being interviewed on allegations that he’d bound, gagged and blindfolded teenagers, some of whom he allegedly suspended from 8-foot-high rafters in the detached garage of his northern Lancaster County home.
Mary Finnell, whose 19-year-old son was on one of Kaplan’s Capital Soccer Association teams for four or five years when he was younger, was trying to make sense of the rumors that began to circulate last week and turned into news stories Wednesday.
“In hindsight, I’m flipping out,” she said.
She’s convinced nothing happened to her son, but said the kids often spent time at Kaplan’s rural home swimming or having picnics.
The boys would go out in groups, she said, not alone.
“Everyone thought he was just kind of different.”
Still, she said, she’s shocked.
Kaplan was committed to teaching his players soccer skills, and Finnell said it seemed like coaching was very important to him. He nominated her for Nebraska soccer parent of the year, and she won, she said.
“I guess I didn’t think (having the boys out to his house) was weird so much as he was lonely and taking ownership of the kids,” she said.
Court documents allege otherwise, and authorities say six boys or young men have said they were abused by Kaplan.
The arrest citations all involve incidents that occurred when the boys were between 12 and 15. In three cases, the alleged victims are older and reported incidents that happened several years earlier.
Chief Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said formal charges likely will be filed Thursday or Friday.
Kaplan’s attorney, Sean Brennan, declined to comment.
Kaplan was arrested on suspicion of six counts of first-degree false imprisonment, six counts of child abuse and two counts of third-degree sexual assault of a child, each of which is a felony punishable by as many as five years in prison. Formal charges could differ from those on which he was arrested.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputies began their investigation last week after a 15-year-old boy reported the alleged activity to a school counselor, according to court documents.
Deputies searched Kaplan’s home on May 6 and seized a camera, a computer and bindings consistent with what the boys told authorities were used on them.
All of allegations involve Kaplan binding the boys’ hands and feet with rope, chains or electric wire and blindfolding them. In some cases, he allegedly put duct tape over their mouths. In most cases, authorities allege he suspended the boys from the rafters, sometimes telling them it was a game and they should try to escape.
Some of the incidents, according to the court documents, lasted 20 minutes to half an hour, and authorities allege he took pictures or videotaped some of the boys.
The two sexual assault citations allege Kaplan touched the boys outside their clothing.
According to court documents, Kaplan allegedly had some of the boys dress in jeans, a jean jacket and sometimes hip waders and rubber gloves.
The documents allege Kaplan was sexually stimulated by the incidents.
Sheriff Terry Wagner said Kaplan has had contact with thousands of boys over the years, and most of them probably weren’t victimized.
But because of the sheer numbers, Wagner said, it’s likely there are more victims.
“He was an opportunist,” he said. “There were a lot of youth who came to his house that weren’t victimized. But I think if he sized up his potential victim and thought he could get away with this kind of activity, he’d do it.“
Kaplan, who has held part-time positions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1989, was a respected youth soccer coach.
He’d coached with Capital Soccer Association for at least 11 years and at Lincoln Northeast High since the 2006 season.
He was suspended from the club soccer association and won’t be rehired by LPS, according to officials with both those organizations.
Rob Nixon, Capital Soccer Association president, said organization officials met with Kaplan’s U14 team and Northeast officials met with the soccer team Tuesday and sent a letter home to parents.
Nancy Biggs, LPS associate superintendent for human resources, said school officials wanted to assure students they were safe and that they could talk with someone if they needed to.
Nancy Mize, a psychologist and outpatient services director at the Child Guidance Center, said this is a good opportunity for parents to talk to their children, and remind them that it’s easy to be manipulated into situations that can be harmful.
Even if a trusted adult asks them to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable, she said, they should tell their parents or an adult at school.
Wagner said Kaplan has no criminal history and the background checks conducted by LPS and the soccer association would not have turned up anything suspicious. But he believes Kaplan has a dark side.
“This is one of those cases where a person has immense talent, did a lot of good for a lot of people but had that dark side that is just unconscionable from most of our perspectives.”
Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.
Shortly thereafter, the 57-year-old adjunct college professor — accused of child abuse and false imprisonment of six teenage boys and of touching two of them sexually — posted $10,000 of his $100,000 bond and was released. Authorities say Kaplan has never been arrested before.
They also said Kaplan was no longer in protective custody, where he was placed after being interviewed on allegations that he’d bound, gagged and blindfolded teenagers, some of whom he allegedly suspended from 8-foot-high rafters in the detached garage of his northern Lancaster County home.
Mary Finnell, whose 19-year-old son was on one of Kaplan’s Capital Soccer Association teams for four or five years when he was younger, was trying to make sense of the rumors that began to circulate last week and turned into news stories Wednesday.
“In hindsight, I’m flipping out,” she said.
She’s convinced nothing happened to her son, but said the kids often spent time at Kaplan’s rural home swimming or having picnics.
The boys would go out in groups, she said, not alone.
“Everyone thought he was just kind of different.”
Still, she said, she’s shocked.
Kaplan was committed to teaching his players soccer skills, and Finnell said it seemed like coaching was very important to him. He nominated her for Nebraska soccer parent of the year, and she won, she said.
“I guess I didn’t think (having the boys out to his house) was weird so much as he was lonely and taking ownership of the kids,” she said.
Court documents allege otherwise, and authorities say six boys or young men have said they were abused by Kaplan.
The arrest citations all involve incidents that occurred when the boys were between 12 and 15. In three cases, the alleged victims are older and reported incidents that happened several years earlier.
Chief Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said formal charges likely will be filed Thursday or Friday.
Kaplan’s attorney, Sean Brennan, declined to comment.
Kaplan was arrested on suspicion of six counts of first-degree false imprisonment, six counts of child abuse and two counts of third-degree sexual assault of a child, each of which is a felony punishable by as many as five years in prison. Formal charges could differ from those on which he was arrested.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputies began their investigation last week after a 15-year-old boy reported the alleged activity to a school counselor, according to court documents.
Deputies searched Kaplan’s home on May 6 and seized a camera, a computer and bindings consistent with what the boys told authorities were used on them.
All of allegations involve Kaplan binding the boys’ hands and feet with rope, chains or electric wire and blindfolding them. In some cases, he allegedly put duct tape over their mouths. In most cases, authorities allege he suspended the boys from the rafters, sometimes telling them it was a game and they should try to escape.
Some of the incidents, according to the court documents, lasted 20 minutes to half an hour, and authorities allege he took pictures or videotaped some of the boys.
The two sexual assault citations allege Kaplan touched the boys outside their clothing.
According to court documents, Kaplan allegedly had some of the boys dress in jeans, a jean jacket and sometimes hip waders and rubber gloves.
The documents allege Kaplan was sexually stimulated by the incidents.
Sheriff Terry Wagner said Kaplan has had contact with thousands of boys over the years, and most of them probably weren’t victimized.
But because of the sheer numbers, Wagner said, it’s likely there are more victims.
“He was an opportunist,” he said. “There were a lot of youth who came to his house that weren’t victimized. But I think if he sized up his potential victim and thought he could get away with this kind of activity, he’d do it.“
Kaplan, who has held part-time positions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1989, was a respected youth soccer coach.
He’d coached with Capital Soccer Association for at least 11 years and at Lincoln Northeast High since the 2006 season.
He was suspended from the club soccer association and won’t be rehired by LPS, according to officials with both those organizations.
Rob Nixon, Capital Soccer Association president, said organization officials met with Kaplan’s U14 team and Northeast officials met with the soccer team Tuesday and sent a letter home to parents.
Nancy Biggs, LPS associate superintendent for human resources, said school officials wanted to assure students they were safe and that they could talk with someone if they needed to.
Nancy Mize, a psychologist and outpatient services director at the Child Guidance Center, said this is a good opportunity for parents to talk to their children, and remind them that it’s easy to be manipulated into situations that can be harmful.
Even if a trusted adult asks them to do something that makes them feel uncomfortable, she said, they should tell their parents or an adult at school.
Wagner said Kaplan has no criminal history and the background checks conducted by LPS and the soccer association would not have turned up anything suspicious. But he believes Kaplan has a dark side.
“This is one of those cases where a person has immense talent, did a lot of good for a lot of people but had that dark side that is just unconscionable from most of our perspectives.”
Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.
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