Youths testify about coach’s alleged sex crimes

Kim Smith

Thursday, March 22, 2001 | 11:20 a.m.

Jurors Wednesday began to hear testimony regarding a youth league coach prosecutors say was able to convince young boys to take part in sex games and charm single mothers into sexless romances so he could be near their sons.

Wednesday was the first day of Garen Pearson's trial on 39 sex-related counts, most of which involve sexual assault of a minor charge.

If convicted on any one count, Pearson, 42, could be sentenced to life in prison.

Pearson was arrested in April 1999 after an 11-year-old boy told police Pearson had been playing sex games with him for several months.

Detectives with Metro's sexual crimes unit reportedly found at least six other boys who told similar stories. Most of the boys were on Pearson's Little League teams in the late 1990s.

Deputy District Attorney Mary Kay Holthus told jurors Pearson never threatened or physically harmed the children. Rather, she said, he used his intellect and charm to convince the boys to take part in the sex games.

Defense attorney Catherine Ann Woolf told jurors Pearson regrets engaging in sex acts with the boys, but it was not sexual assault.

One of the first witnesses in the case was an 11-year-old boy who met Pearson through friends of his mother. Shortly thereafter, his mother met and began dating Pearson, who eventually moved in with them.

The boy, who could barely be seen over the witness stand, said Pearson took him to pizza restaurants and Circus Circus and bought him clothes and golf clubs.

However, Pearson also taught him a new game that they sometimes played with other boys, the child said. They would flip quarters and whomever called the majority of the quarters correctly had to direct someone to perform oral sex on someone else. Sometimes, the "winner" of the game was required to direct the other players to touch someone intimately while Pearson timed them.

"Why did you do that?" Holthus asked the boy.

" 'Cause he told me to," the boy said. " 'Cause that's how we played the game."

The boy said he felt as though he had no choice.

"I didn't really like it, but I did it because I thought if I didn't, something else would happen, something worse," the boy told jurors.

The name of the boy and Pearson's other alleged victims are being withheld by the Sun because of their ages and the nature of the alleged crimes.

The boy's mother told jurors that Pearson moved in with her in January 1999 but was asked to leave a few months later when he failed to divorce his wife, as promised.

The woman said that during the time Pearson lived with her and her son, Pearson refused to be intimate with her. He also purchased the boy fitted clothing and briefs when the boy preferred baggy clothing and boxers.

She didn't learn of the alleged sex acts until she learned of Pearson's arrest on television. She then confronted her son.

Also testifying Wednesday was a 15-year-old boy whose mother married Pearson when the boy was 5. One year later the boy said Pearson began fondling him, oftentimes when he was sitting on Pearson's lap reading the Bible.

The teen's mother said she had intercourse with Pearson once in the seven years they were together. Initially Pearson said he didn't want to have sex because they weren't married, but they only had sex once after they were married -- a year into the marriage.

The woman said she is still married to Pearson, but was not allowed to answer why.

A 37-year-old Las Vegas resident also testified that when he was about 13, a 19- or 20-year-old Pearson intimidated him into performing fellatio in a desert area near his home.

The man said he came forward after learning of Pearson's arrest.

The trial was to continue today in District Judge Michael Cherry's courtroom.