MARBLEHEAD — A youth hockey coach accused of sexually assaulting young boys was indicted on new child assault charges connected to six of his alleged victims.
An Essex County grand jury indicted Christopher Prew, 31, of Winthrop and formerly of Marblehead, on nine counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and one count of attempted indecent assault on a child under 14 on Thursday, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
Prew is expected to be arraigned on the new indictments on Friday in Salem Superior Court. The bulk of the conduct occurred between January 1, 2017 and February 5, 2018
His mother, Louise Martino, 55, was also indicted on one count of witness intimidation. She was arrested earlier this month and charged with sending a threatening message to the mother of one of her son’s alleged victims. Her arraignment has not been scheduled.
With the new indictments, Prew is now formally charged with sexually assaulting eight boys. The new charges are based on accusations from six victims, all young boys, with the alleged incidents occurring in Marblehead or Peabody.
Prew has been accused of molesting 11 young boys in total. Three of the cases remain under investigation, which includes two victims in Essex County and one in New York that he has yet to face charges for, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s Office.
He was indicted by an Essex County Grand Jury last month on charges of aggravated rape and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, which stem from accusations from the first child, a 9-year-old boy from Marblehead whose accusations launched the investigation.
Prew was also previously indicted by a Middlesex County Grand Jury for sexually assaulting a young boy in Newton.
Martino was charged after the mother of the first victim, who had dated Prew, reported receiving a threatening message from her on social media.
Prew is currently being held without bail and will remain jailed until his trial. Essex County Superior Court Judge Timothy Feeley ordered Prew held earlier this month, in a reversal of an earlier memo that said he was inclined to release the suspect to his family in Winthrop.
Feeley told the court that he changed his mind, in part, because of the actions of Prew’s mother, referring to the threatening message, and because there was no effective means of protecting children in Winthrop because of Prew’s family and supporters’ “unified, almost fanatical belief in the defendant’s innocence.”
The children who have accused Prew were participating in the hockey program with him. He is not affiliated with the Marblehead Hockey Association, but provides private and group hockey sessions in the area.
Prew is now listed as living in Winthrop. He had previously been living in a Marblehead condominium owned by the mother of the first victim.
Prew’s defense attorney, Michael Doolin, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
