Former Huntington U track coach arrested on new charges

HUNTINGTON, Ind. (WPTA) - The former Huntington University cross country coach who was fired following accusations of sexual abuse involving student-athletes was back behind bars Tuesday morning.

21Alive reported that new charges and an arrest warrant were filed against Nicholas Johnson on Monday, March 27. Court documents show Johnson is now facing sexual battery and battery charges.

Online records show Johnson was booked into the Huntington County Jail Tuesday morning but later bonded out. Currently, a probable cause document detailing what led to the new charges has not been released.

Huntington University sent the following statement regarding the new charges on Tuesday afternoon:

In February of 2022, Johnson was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 150 days to be served under electronic monitoring after pleading guilty to identity deception. He had previously faced two counts of child seduction and one count of kidnapping and identity deception, but the charges were dropped in a plea deal.

His arrest followed accusations that Johnson used a phony email account to communicate with a child and took the victim out of state without her parents’ knowledge.

Since then, a civil lawsuit has been filed by two former athletes claiming Johnson sexually harassed them and injected them with an unknown substance.

CROSSING THE LINE: Attorney representing former Huntington University athletes detail abuse allegations