Ex-coach gets up to 23 months in player sex case

A former squash coach at a Montgomery County private school who pleaded guilty to corruption of minors involving a student could spend nearly two years in prison.

Fifty-one-year-old James Civello was sentenced Thursday to time-served to 23 months in prison for carrying on a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl on his team at the Shipley School.

Civello, of Upper Black Eddy, was arrested last summer after police say the girl and her parents reported the relationship. He pleaded guilty in May and his attorney says he’s sought counseling.

Civello’s now-18-year-old victim asked that he not serve additional jail time in a letter read to the court. She wrote that the relationship had “positive influences” on her.

Montgomery County prosecutors say the victim has been “manipulated.”