Texas Wrestling Coach Indicted for Sex Assault on Bus

FORT WORTH, Texas – A Central Texas wrestling coach has been indicted on federal charges that he molested two female high school wrestlers while they were on a cross-country bus trip.

A federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., indicted Timothy Daniel Morriss, 42, on charges stemming from accusations that he fondled two 16-year-old girls and forced one of them to perform a sex act on him.

The girls told federal investigators that Morriss committed the assaults last July as they traveled through Missouri on a charter bus returning from a national meet in Fargo, N.D., according to a federal search warrant affidavit.

Morris was the owner of The Rock Wrestling Club in Leander, Texas. He also was one of the coaches of Texas USA Wrestling in Fort Worth, Texas, which organized the team and sent it to North Dakota. His hometown of Weir is located about 25 miles northeast of Austin.

The indictment delivered Tuesday charges Morriss with unlawfully confining persons who were minors while they were transported across state lines, using a facility of interstate commerce to coerce a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity and traveling across state lines for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual activity.

Morriss and Texas USA Wrestling officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

According to the federal affidavit, Morris, two other male coaches and the father of one of the wrestlers accompanied the team of 23 female high school wrestlers to Fargo. The team won a junior national championship.

On the way back to Texas, Morris sat between the two girls and placed a sleeping bag over them when the alleged assaults occurred, according to the affidavit.

The girls made separate reports to authorities when they arrived back to Texas, the affidavit said. Morriss could also face state charges of statutory sodomy and child molestation in Missouri, according to federal officials.