Police: Fired Fostoria coach left rotting dog in home with children

Also faces accusations of sending explicit photographs to students

7/26/2017

The Blade
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FOSTORIA — A paraprofessional and coach was fired by the Fostoria school district Tuesday and faces accusations he sent explicit photographs to students and left his own children in deplorable conditions with a rotting dog inside their home, according to district and court documents.

Nelson J. Cousin, 28, is charged in Fostoria Municipal Court with four counts of child endangerment, three counts of contributing to the unruliness of a child, and one count of violating the prohibitions concerning companion animals. He was placed on paid leave from Fostoria Junior/​Senior High School on March 28 after the district was informed of the allegations, according to his personnel file, and he was charged formally in May.

 

 

VIDEO: Blade Briefing on fired Fostoria coach

Andrew Sprang, Fostoria school superintendent, said in an email that Mr. Cousin was terminated Tuesday.

“The timing deals with going through the process of the investigation and trying to work with all parties involved,” he said when asked what changed between May, when Mr. Cousin was charged, and Tuesday.

A message left for Mr. Cousin’s attorney Wednesday was not returned.

According to court documents, Mr. Cousin had inappropriate text conversations with at least three students. Two were identified as track athletes that he coached. He sent nude photographs of himself to a 16-year-old in March, 2016, and asked her to send pictures back.

He sent nude photos to a then 13-year-old student on the track team in June, 2016, and requested she send back “naughty” pictures of herself, according to court documents. He also sent a 17-year-old naked pictures of himself in March and April this year.

Fostoria police served a search warrant at his residence on April 4. They found the house in such a deteriorated condition that officers had to leave the home because they became nauseous, according to the criminal complaint.

Officers found a dead dog in a bedroom that had been left so long it had decayed. Bug bombs had been left on top of the dog to kill maggots and flies. Firefighters had to use oxygen masks to remove the dog because of the stench, according to court documents. Mr. Cousin said he believed the dog had been poisoned, court documents state.

His three school-aged children were sleeping in the living room because of the dead dog in the bedroom.

Mr. Cousin was first hired as a cross country coach in 2011, and has also served as a track and basketball coach. He was hired as a paraprofessional in August, 2015.

The Seneca County Humane Society said that a second dog was removed from the home when police served the search warrant. Scarlet, a “pit bull” mix who was estimated to be between four and six weeks old when seized, was successfully adopted from the humane society.

Contact Nolan Rosenkrans at nrosenkrans@theblade.com, or 419-724-6086 or on Twitter @NolanRosenkrans.