Former University Park Tennis Coach Found Guilty of Molesting Teenage Player

A former University Park tennis instructor was found guilty Thursday of molesting a tennis player he coached when she was a teenager.A Dallas County jury convicted Stoyan Anastassov, 43, of two counts of indecency with a child. Jurors were scheduled to hear testimony Thursday afternoon before Anastassov's sentencing.University Park police arrested Anastassov in 2015 after the victim came forward with allegations that he molested her at her home in 2011, when she was 13.Anastassov taught private tennis lessons and had stints coaching at the Seay Tennis Center of Highland Park ISD and the Episcopal School of Dallas. He also coached children and adults in Colleyville.Prosecutors said the victim came forward after she learned Anastassov was hired to coach tennis at Greenhill School in Addison, where she attended.She had kept the abuse a secret for years, including after Anastassov stopped coaching her in 2013, but didn't want other students to become victims, prosecutors said."When she learned he could pass a background check and coach other kids, she had to say something," lead prosecutor Brandie Wade told jurors in closing arguments.Two additional women Anastassov coached as teens testified that he subjected them to a cycle of sexual and verbal abuse.  Continue reading...