Court Documents: Las Cruces Basketball Coach Confessed Addiction To Child Porn

Court documents reveal Las Cruces police found hundreds of images and videos containing child pornography on the computer of a Picacho Middle School basketball coach, and he allegedly admitted to investigators he had an addiction to it.

The documents show police tracked down 33-year-old Erik Khan using an automated computer program that sends messages to computers offering to distribute child porn.

According to court documents, Khan told investigators he has been viewing child porn for at least 10 years. Khan said he used peer-to-peer file sharing networks to acquire a large collection of videos and images of child porn, filling several hard drives with the files.

Police investigators said Kahn admitted to being sexually abused at the age of 8 years old by a teenager in New Jersey. Court documents state Khan told investigators he used to work as a counselor for juvenile sex offenders in Mesa, Ariz., and that’s where he started watching child porn and developed an addiction.

Prosecutors from the District Attorney’s Office told ABC-7 they take everything Khan said at face value and will thoroughly investigate if his statements are true.

Khan was a paid basketball coach at Picacho Middle and a volunteer basketball coach at Mayfield High in Las Cruces.

Court documents revealed Khan admitted to having an addiction to child porn specifically involving children between the ages of 8 and 12.

Jo Galvan, a spokeswoman for the Las Cruces Public Schools District, said Khan coached kids a little older than that in eighth and ninth grades.

Investigators have not mentioned if any local children were involved. The documents show Khan told them he did not have any sexual relationships with any children he counseled or coached, though Khan claimed some children made sexual advances toward him.

Several parents of children who go to Picacho Middle told ABC-7 they were furious and horrified that something like this could be going on with a staff member who may have dealt with their children.

“It’s worse than a nightmare,” one parent said. “I will be checking with my granddaughter and probably her 10 friends that come to make sure that she had no contact with him whatsoever. If I find out that her picture is anywhere on that Internet, look out.”

Las Cruces Public Schools District spokeswoman Jo Galvan told ABC-7 all employees and volunteers go through extensive state and federal background checks. Galvan said Khan passed his.

The school district is conducting an internal investigation, along with LCPD and Homeland Security.

“We’ll be doing one internally ourselves because we want to satisfy our knowledge that none of our own children were involved with him in any way,” Galvan said.

Parents said they’re glad Khan was caught, but they’re concerned about what he could have done while working as a basketball coach.

“He’s their coach. I mean, he’s a male; they’re males. He’s coming in and out of their locker room while they’re dressing,” concerned mother Crystal Franco told ABC-7.

“My granddaughter didn’t go looking for trouble. She’s at school, a safe place. It’s not that safe anymore, and it’s very scary for all of us,” an angry grandmother said.

LCPS officials said Khan’s employment with the district ended with the basketball season. They said Khan will not be allowed to return to his job at Picacho Middle or anywhere in the school district after this investigation.

Khan is charged with 15 felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child. He is being held at the Doa Ana County Detention Center without bond.