Former coach indicted;
trial scheduled

Fairfax Times
Kali Schumitz
©Times Community Newspapers 2004
11/27/2003

A former Herndon soccer coach was indicted on three counts of child pornography last week.

Ralph D. Shipler, 61, who lives in the Chantilly Highlands neighborhood, waived a preliminary hearing earlier this month. The case was sent to grand jury, and his trial was set to begin Monday morning, Nov. 24.

Shipler was arrested after police in Pennsylvania found him videotaping children at a nudist camp there. Fairfax County Police said videotapes in his possession included footage of young girls changing in a bathroom.

A later search of Shipler's home by police and FBI officials found a hole in his garage wall and the backing scraped off the bathroom mirror.

Shipler was a coach and assistant coach for several girls' youth soccer teams, including the Herndon Force and teams in Springfield and Chantilly. His daughter was a player on the teams.

Shipler had resigned from all of his coaching positions at the time he was arrested.


In February, 2004, Ralph Shipler, then 61, was sentenced to six years in prison on three counts of producing child pornography. Shipler, a soccer coach, had previously pleaded guilty to videotaping girls from his team changing in his bathroom with a hidden camera. --Source, TimesCommunity.com, Fairfax, 01.2005


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