Former coach’s child porn sentencing starts

A now-30-year-old woman testified Wednesday that gymnastics coach Vernor Gumila had a romantic relationship with her when she was 13.

The woman was the first, and so far only, witness at the sentencing hearing for Gumila. The Glendale Heights man was convicted in September of possession of child pornography. He was charged in 2007, when he lived in St. Charles. His roommate at the time, Shawn Bowlden, a coach at another gymnastics club, was also charged with possession of child pornography. Bowlden pleaded guilty and testified against Gumila.

The woman said Gumila, 42, had coached her younger and older sisters at Gymkhana Gymnastics Club and Dance Studio in Hanover Park. She began individual training with him in the summer between seventh and eighth grades.

He would give her lingering hugs when no one was around and “was very flirty” with her, she said. He gave her rides to and from home, hung out with her at her house, took her to a mall, restaurants, movies and inline skating. She also said Gumila kissed her over different parts of her body while in her backyard pool and molested her once while she sat on his lap at a movie theater.

The relationship ended when her grandparents, who were the guardians of her and her sisters, found out by reading about it in her younger sister’s diary. But they did not pursue criminal charges.

“It just got too weird for me,” she said.

In 1997, her older sister accused Gumila of battery, saying he touched her buttocks inappropriately and made sexually explicit comments to the girl. Gumila was found not guilty and continued to work at Gymkhana until his 2007 arrest in St. Charles.

The woman told St. Charles police about her relationship with Gumila in 2007 after she read about his case in a newspaper.

The sentencing hearing will continue May 19.

Judge Timothy Sheldon also denied the defense’s motion to have the conviction overturned. The defense had argued it couldn’t be proven the pornography on Gumila’s computer was his, because he lived with Bowlden. Police were initially investigating Bowlden, and Gumila gave them permission to search his computer too. Numerous cookies for child pornography websites, a favorites list containing child pornography websites, and temporary Internet files of child pornography were found on the hard drive.

Gumila remains free on bail. His sentencing could range from probation to five years in prison.