Downers Grove South assistant track coach resigns following child pornography charges
An assistant girls track coach at Downers Grove South High School resigned after he was charged with possession of child pornography, Community High School District 99 officials said.
"We wanted to let you know that we were made aware today of a criminal complaint filed in federal court that alleges DGS assistant girls track coach Glenn Messmer, who resigned from District 99 yesterday, was found in possession of child pornography," Superintendent Hank Thiele said in a statement to parents sent Wednesday.
No District 99 students are believed to be involved, Thiele said.
"At this point, neither we nor the authorities are aware of any inappropriate interactions with our students; however, we wanted to make you aware of this situation," Thiele said in the statement.
Homeland Security Investigations agents on Tuesday executed a search warrant at Messmer's residence in Darien.
Agents identified multiple files on a desktop computer located in an office that appeared to contain child pornography, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Messmer admitted that he downloaded at least one of the files that contained child pornography from the internet, authorities allege. He added that he knew the minor depicted in the file was younger than 16, the complaint stated.
He started as an assistant girls track coach at Downers Grove South on April 13, 2021. He also volunteered as a track coach in the spring of 2019 at Downers Grove South and during the 2019-20 school year both at Downers Grove South and Downers Grove North high schools. He was a volunteer at the Downers Grove South track summer camp in 2020, according to the statement.
Messmer was not a teacher in District 99 but passed a background check before he interacted with any District 99 student, district officials said.
In addition to coaching in District 99, Messmer joined the Lake Forest College women's lacrosse team coaching staff in 2022. Messmer remains listed as an assistant lacrosse coach on the college's website.