Lansdale man sentenced in New Jersey for sexually assaulting player on youth hockey team
Walter Ferinden pleaded guilty to assaulting one of his former players in Gloucester County.
A former youth ice hockey coach from Montgomery County was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for sexually abusing one of his players in New Jersey.
Walter Ferinden, 57, of Lansdale, was sentenced in Superior Court after pleading guilty to aggravated sexual contact charges. The prison time is in addition to two years he was sentenced to in Delaware on similar charges in December.
Ferinden coached and ran hockey clinics for 30 years in New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont.
In announcing his arrest in 2017, prosecutors in Gloucester County said that Ferinden molested a boy on one of his teams in his Deptford apartment, and that the victim had reported what happened to two of his friends.
A second victim had come forward, investigators said, but the statute of limitations had run out, preventing additional charges against Ferinden.
At the time of Ferinden’s arrest, investigators noted that he appeared to have “groomed” his victims, taking advantage of them after befriending them through the sport.
That same year, Ferinden also was charged with nine counts of unlawful sexual contact with two minors in New Castle, Del. He pleaded guilty.
The article contains information from the Associated Press.