Former Rockford ice skating coach guilty of criminal sexual abuse
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - Eugene “Gene” Heffron, 83, was found guilty Friday of three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse during a trial by jury in Winnebago County.
Evidence showed that between 1999 and 2006, Heffron abused one of his students who was younger than 15 at the time.
One witness during the trial, another former student of Heffron’s, testified of their account of his sexual conduct with her between 2004 and 2005, when she was a juvenile.
Heffron was a longtime ice skating coach in the region and a former Olympian.
He is set for sentencing on January 27, 2023 and faces up to seven years in prison with probation. There are two other trials pending against Heffron and those dates have not been set.
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