Former WHS football coach, AD faces child rape charges

From the Wicked Local Walpole website:

   Danny Villa, the former Walpole High School athletic director, head football coach and teacher, is in Tucson, Ariz. police custody, facing child rape charges in Walpole.
   An Arizona native, Villa was home for the holidays when Wrentham District Court issued a warrant on Friday for his arrest. He faces three counts of rape of a child over 14 and three counts of enticing a minor, when he is extradited this week to Massachusetts, according to police.
   According to Walpole Deputy Chief Scott Bushway, the charges stem from physical contact Villa had with a female student-athlete at Walpole High over a three-month period in 2008. He said the girl is the only victim.
   The alleged crimes first came to light when a parent of the student told Superintendent Lincoln Lynch about the misconduct, then the Walpole police. The parents of the alleged victim, Bushway said, were alerted to the matter after discovering "inappropriate" text messages from Villa on their daughter’s cell phone.
    According to reports, Lynch immediately put Villa on paid administrative leave last Tuesday morning and called him in for a meeting later in the morning. When faced with the allegations, Villa resigned all three positions at Walpole High School, Lynch said.
    Police and school officials have not yet disclosed the details of the incident, but Bushway did say, "The charges speak for themselves."
    Villa’s attorney told police her client would be flying back to Massachusetts Friday to turn himself in, but when he failed to arrive on his scheduled flight, Walpole authorities issued a fugitive warrant, according to Bushway.
   After hearing from an unnamed person that the news had broke in Walpole about the rape allegations, Villa turned himself in to Tucson police Saturday night, according to some news reports.
   Bushway could not confirm whether Villa willfully surrendered or if he was taken into custody by Tucson police.
     The 44-year-old lives with his wife and four children on Bubbling Brook Road. He has been the high school’s head football coach for the past eight seasons, compiling a 72-23 record and four postseason appearances. This year, he capped off an undefeated season with a Division 2 Eastern Massachusetts Super Bowl win – the school’s first since 1997.
    A guard in the National Football League from 1987 to 1998, Villa spent six years with the New England Patriots and also had stints with the then-Phoenix Cardinals, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Carolina Panthers.
    He is being held without bond on a fugitive warrant, according to the Pima County, Ariz. jail.
    Walpole Times Managing Editor Brian DeCesare contributed to this story.  

Stay tuned for further updates.

Read “Former WHS football coach, AD faces child rape charges” on the Wicked Local Walpole website