Freeport teacher, volleyball coach pleads not guilty to rape, assault charges
SAXONBURG — Charges against a former Buffalo Elementary School teacher and area volleyball coach accused of raping and sexually assaulting a player are moving forward after a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Aug. 26.
Jared C. Lampus, 45, of Buffalo Township, pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl on multiple occasions between July 2023 and 2025 under the guise of offering her “self-defense lessons.”
District Judge Jack Ripper, who presided over the hearing, also denied the defense’s request to lower Lampus’ bail from $500,000.
A Freeport Area School District teacher, Lampus, was arrested Aug. 18 and charged with one felony count each of rape, human trafficking, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, sexual assault, intercourse with a student, sexual assault by a sports official, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors and criminal attempt at involuntary deviate sexual intercourse; and one misdemeanor count each of corruption of minors and theft.
The girl, now 18, testified over Zoom and was questioned by the prosecution and defense at the Tuesday hearing. She was 16 at the time the alleged incidents began.
The teen testified that Lampus raped and assaulted her while providing private volleyball lessons, private tennis lessons and having her shadow him in his classroom.
In addition to having worries about how speaking out could impact her volleyball career, she testified she felt she couldn’t say “no” due to concerns over Lampus’ safety. She said Lampus made threats he would kill himself and feared he would “go to jail.”
She met Lampus through practices with Pittsburgh Elite Volleyball, a club program near Pittsburgh where Lampus was a coach and offered her private lessons, she said.
She said inappropriate conduct began after their first lesson, when he took her to a coffee shop and made comments about her body, touched her legs and arms and swiped his hand across her breasts.
Lampus’ actions intensified after the second interaction, in which the teen testified Lampus offered to give the self-defense lessons. She said he put her in various positions where he was on top of her, showing her how to escape various positions.
After the second interaction, the situation turned sexual, she said.
She testified that over the course of time the incidents occurred, they had sex in Lampus’ jeep in a parking lot, in his classroom, at his home and at a hotel in Columbus, Ohio, while traveling for a volleyball tournament. Charging documents filed by police also noted an incident in West Virginia.
She also said, at times, when she tried to move away from Lampus, he would hold her down by the arms and not let her.
On other occasions, she said, after they engaged in intercourse or other sexual acts, he would give her money by slipping it in her bra and “thank her for her services.”
The defense’s questioning was largely based around whether the teenager was forced to or willingly met up with Lampus. When Lampus’ defense attorney, Kelvin L. Morris, asked the teen if she was forced, she said that at times he would pick her up and drive to his house, open the door in his garage, grab her hand and guide her inside.
Laura Pitchford, assistant district attorney and prosecutor in the case, responded to the defense’s argument in closing statements, saying the teenager felt she “didn’t have the power to say no.”
When the defense asked Ripper to lower the bond, attorneys argued it should be set at $100,000 with Lampus placed under house arrest. Morris said Lampus’s ties to the community and available housing showed Lampus wasn’t at risk of fleeing.
Pitchford said evidence would be presented that Lampus had his bags packed and cash taken out at the time of his arrest and that “his ties to the community are how he got access” to taking advantage of the teenager.
Lampus was a teacher of more than 25 years at Buffalo Elementary School in Freeport Area School District. He no longer appears on the Freeport Area School District staff directory.
