Andrekovich

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A former Bellwood-Antis School District head wrestling coach was convicted Tuesday of endangering the welfare of children, a third-degree felony charge accusing him of failing to keep fellow coach Ryan Blazier from unsupervised contact with students in 2019 and 2020.

Timothy D. Andrekovich, 60, who told the jury he didn’t know that Blazier was alone with student wrestlers or sexually assaulting them, offered no comment as he left the courtroom, where the jury returned a guilty verdict after deliberating for almost 2.5 hours.

He remains free on $50,000 unsecured bail, pending his Aug. 25 sentencing.

Senior Judge Richard A. Lewis of Dauphin County, who presided over the trial, asked the jurors in court for confirmation of their guilty verdict and that Andrekovich’s actions reflected a course of conduct to support the grading of the offense as a third-degree felony.

“So say you all?” Lewis asked, prompting the jurors to collectively answer yes as they nodded their heads in agreement.

The decision prompted one of Blazier’s sexual assault victims, seated in the gallery, to nod his head, too. His mother began shedding tears as she clasped hands with her son and friends.

Andrekovich’s family and supporters, whose jaws dropped at the verdict, also shed tears as they milled around the courtroom after the two-day trial came to a close.

Defense attorney Lance Marshall of State College said outside court that he and Andrekovich were disappointed with the verdict and will consider appeal options.

“I thought we presented a strong case,” Marshall said.

In Andrekovich’s defense, Marshall called in fellow wrestling coaches Robert Schmittle and Jeremy Wilson and three former student wrestlers, who confirmed they had no awareness of Blazier being alone with student wrestlers or that he was sexually assaulting them.

Blazier, who was convicted of seven sexual assault offenses in October 2021, is currently serving a sentence with 21 to 42 years’ incarceration.

Prosecutors Julia van Leeuwen and Lauren Eichelberger of the state Office of Attorney General countered Andrekovich’s claim of no knowledge about Blazier’s behavior with testimony about a concern that surfaced in May 2019 when Blazier, then a middle school wrestling coach, was working with student wrestlers in a small room that had a windowless door that required a key to be unlocked. Witnesses told the jury that concern was shared with Andrekovich, who supported a directive that the door remain open and that more than one adult should be present in a room with student wrestlers.

In her closing argument, van Leeuwen asked the jury to recall the testimony by the student wrestler who spoke of being sexually assaulted by Blazier in that room in December 2019.

While the student didn’t disclose the sexual assaults until early 2020, his mother testified that when her son came home from wrestling practice in December 2019 with a swollen face and busted lip, she went to Andrekovich for answers and later observed what she considered to be a heated discussion between Andrekovich and Blazier.

Van Leeuwen asked the jurors to conclude that the discussion was heated “because this was an issue in May … and (Blazier) was alone with a juvenile.”

Van Leeuwen also made the case that after the state Department of Human Services sent a notice in December to the Bellwood-Antis School District about a investigation into a child abuse allegation against Blazier, district personnel — including Andrekovich — were no longer in a position to ignore the situation.

But while Blazier was initially suspended from coaching, those duties were restored a day later after school district leaders decided that Blazier could coach as long as another adult was present. Trial testimony indicated that Andrekovich was the “point person” for putting that plan in place and making sure it was followed.

Van Leeuwen told the jury that Andrekovich “had all the information he needed” to follow through with action that would have kept Blazier from being alone with the student wrestler he sexually assaulted.

“(Andrekovich) is burying his head in the sand,” van Leeuwen said. “He was given the information.”

Marshall disagreed with that conclusion and faulted the Blair County Children, Youth & Families office and the Blair County District Attorney’s office for failing to present the Bellwood-Antis administrators with information about child abuse allegations against Blazier that involved a young girl and not student wrestlers.

“This is nothing more than the government trying to shift the blame to Timothy Andrekovich, an innocent man who has dedicated his life to the Bellwood-Antis School District,” Marshall said.

To back up that claim, Marshall presented the jury with an email exchange among representatives of both offices and a state police investigator, who agreed that Blazier shouldn’t be coaching while the child abuse investigation was ongoing — but reportedly took no steps to relay that information to school leaders.

CYF Director Shannon Tucker testified Monday that at the time of that discussion, they believed Blazier’s coaching duties were suspended, then learned that the school district had revised that plan so Blazier could coach as long as other adults were present — an action Tucker criticized.

Marshall asked the jury to imagine what might have been prevented if someone from CYF or the DA’s office had made a phone call to the school.

Marshall said after court concluded that he will be asking Lewis to consider a probationary sentence for his client, who has no prior criminal record.

Van Leeuwen said she didn’t know what kind of sentence she will request.

Former Penn State President Graham B. Spanier, who was found guilty in 2017 of a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the Jerry Sandusky scandal, served two months in jail and two months on house arrest.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.