Home Forums Long Island & Eastern New York Soccer Message Boards BOTN Main Message Board Nassau soccer coach charged with raping teen player, police say

By Robert Brodsky and Joan Gralla
robert.brodsky@newsday.com, joan.gralla@newsday.com @BrodskyRobert
Updated October 30, 2020 3:43 PM

A Franklin Square youth soccer coach was arrested Friday and charged with raping a player on two occasions in mid-August, Nassau police said.

Sean Johnsen, 35, of Farmingdale, a coach with the Franklin Square Raiders Soccer Club, was charged with rape, criminal sexual act and endangering the welfare of a child, law enforcement officials said.

Johnsen was arraigned virtually Friday, and Nassau District Court Judge Paul Meli ordered him held on $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 secured bond. Three orders of protection were also issued.

He is due back in court Wednesday in Mineola.

"These are very serious charges that will be addressed in court," said Matin Emouna, Johnsen's Garden City-based defense attorney. "My client has an outstanding reputation as a coach, teacher, mentor, counselor and categorically denies all of the accusations of inappropriate behavior."

In court Friday, Emouna said Johnsen was a secondary caregiver for his mother, who lives in Valley Stream and suffers from stage 4 cancer.

Authorities said Johnsen coaches a club team, with players ranging in age from 14 to 19.

Johnsen is accused of having "inappropriate contact" with a 16-year-old female player on Aug. 17 and 21 in Westbury, police said.

Prosecutors confirmed that Johnsen coaches with the Franklin Square Raiders, a boys and girls soccer club. A Raiders official declined to comment, referring calls to the police department.

Johnsen was also a part-time assistant women's soccer coach from April to December 2019 at Queens College and a part-time math teacher at Fusion Academy, a Woodbury private school. A Fusion Academy official confirmed Johnsen was terminated from his position Friday.

Detectives ask anyone who may be a victim of a similar crime or who can help with the investigation to call 516-473-4022.

does anyone know what club or clubs he was working for?

Newsday said Franklin Square

That coach was working for Franklin Square and my daughters friend played for him. Absolutely disgusting what this guy did.

He also was an assistant coach at queens college briefly

Same coach as Herricks H.S boys soccer ?

I have nothing to say except CASTRATE the bastard!!!!

So much for innocent until proven guilty. I have no idea if this guy is guilty or not but this stuff happens all the time and sometimes comes back that there was a grudge and sometimes comes back that its true. Guess he was arrested in country other than United States.

Modern Americans twist the law to how it suits them, the problem of a government and those in charge to not be kept in check. I do not condone any act against a minor and we got rid of lynch mobs or so I thought. Civil liberties will be gone sooner then you think

Innocent until proven guilty.

God bless

I was his player for many years, although i cannot speak on this particular situation. He is anything but innocent, for years he has played the role of a caring coach. He played that role so well most of us NEVER spoke out against him, even though he made many of us feel uncomfortable. But in reality he was texting a lot of his players on the side in an inappropriate manner and influencing young women with his manipulative skills to do certain things. A word to describe him is, condescending. For so long I made excuses for this man thinking he had my best interest heart, but its a facade and his true colors have come to light. Im just so sorry some of us older players didn’t speak out sooner, this may never had happened.
Parents, speak to your children and make sure they know they can always come to you with situation that make them uncomfortable!

Unless you are Brett Kavanaugh.
Unless you are Brett Kavanaugh. He was guilty and had to prove his innocence.

HE WAS MY COACH TOO. He is not innocent. He was arrested for a reason. It was not just an accusation. The police were working on this case for A LONG TIME. It’s more than one girl. She is the main event due to the decency of events. When we say things like “people are being over dramatic” or call victims liars we are ALLOWING predators to get away with being sexual abusers. The negativity needs to stop. Stop silencing survivors. The police had more than enough evidence to arrest.

Isn’t it perfectly acceptable per our current moral standards to look the other way when a guy grabs a girls crotch? Maybe I’m wrong and that’s different. Fake new probably.

Just curious what things did he ask his female players to do that was uncomfortable?

I bet this is a man asking this insensitive and totally inappropriate question. This moron thinks that by premising his comment with just curious it makes it all ok. You have now an individual charged with rape of a minor, in case you are not aware of the law, there is an investigation before and charges are not brought without some sort of evidence. You have not one, but 2, people who have had direct interaction with this individual stating he is anything but innocent, had direct interaction via texts with minor players for years, and said/did things that made them uncomfortable. This guy looks like, walks like and acts like a predator, so if is my kid at risk he is def guilty until proven innocent. Putting the victims statements into question perpetuates this behavior and continues to allow this to happen. Believe them.
But if you all are so understanding and a believer of innocent until proven guilty send your kid to train with him, I’m sure he is looking for a job right now. Go ahead, put your kids safety where your mouth is. I will wait.

So, you are saying that every person that every person ever arrested was found guilty and sent to jail? No, innocent person has ever been arrested?
I do not know if this guy is guilty or not but I find it disturbing that people are calling for him to be castrated before he even goes to trial.

I think you either too sensitive or you have a special interest in this guy. If he is innocent, which from what is alleged along with an arrest, I would say the odds are not in favor of walking away. To the sicko who wants to know what "things" he did to this female player, get your right hand out of your pocket and take a cold shower.

No...This an opinion board in my opinion he is a POS....but yes he is innocent until PROVEN guilty....let the legal process begin...but that does not mean you do nothing to protect those involved

Coached at QC. A JG apostle?

Should be a wake up call for all. Parents and Team Admins and coaches should never let anyone run sessions without oversight. A supervisor should always be watching every session. If in fact this did happen, the connection would have started at a training session where some oversight might have been able to stop it immediatly. Parents need to wake up. and stop throwing money at LI thieves and being afraid to rock the boat all while eating crap. Your singular loyalty should to your child

Who defends an arrested alleged rapist with so much vigor, are you his attorney, family or accomplice? It’s sickening, everyone knows you are innocent until proven guilty but if and when he is then castrate his a** asap. If the rare instance he is proven “innocent” his name will be cleared until then take many seats and protect the children!

The problem in this country is there are 2 sets of rules. The rules for the elitists and people with connections and then the rules for whomever is in charge wants to prosecute. If he is guilty hang him, but let it play out.

To this poster, this is called grooming.

To the people saying 'innocent until proven guilty' Yeah in a court of law, that's fine. But the facts are, you have a criminal complaint. You have 2 girls coming here stating he was weird and inappropriate. You all are trying to shut them down. Do everyone a favor and STFU if you're going to defend 'alleged criminal behavior'. Yes, he's alleged to have done this and more. That's enough for me to call him a POS.

Understand that the main case, is just the main case. It's almost always a situation where there are many more complaints. Larry Nassar's name ring a bell? Jerry Sandusky? There are many many more. Where there's smoke there's fire.

If you have nothing but support for the girls, or to express your disgust of the situation shut up. No one wants to hear your victim blaming, and apologies for the criminal. Just shut up.

Yes, as the previous poster said it is grooming which can be very sophisticated and subtle as the predator works on a vulnerable child that he has decided to target.

You do NOT owe us an apology, he expected kids like you who suspected him and kids that were his victims to be ashamed to talk about what was going on. You are entitled to an apology for having had to deal with his inappropriate behavior. I am sorry that you had to deal with that.

All Coaches, Trainers and Referees receive Safesport training discussing these issues and how to spot a child that could be going through a private hell like this.