Chiawana coach on leave following alleged sex attack

A Chiawana High School coach and paraeducator remains on paid administrative leave while facing allegations he forced himself on a woman at her Richland store.

Mahasse Cornileus, 45, has pleaded innocent in Benton County Superior Court to indecent liberties.

The felony charge involves sexual contact by forcible compulsion.

Prosecutors allege that at 5:50 p.m. Sept. 19, Cornileus went to the George Washington Way business of a woman he had met through a mobile dating app.

While the two had chatted a few times, gone on a lunch date and taken some pictures together, they were not in a dating or sexual relationship, according to police and prosecutors.

Cornileus locked the store’s front door and “engaged in sexually aggressive and assaultive behavior” against the 46-year-old woman, court documents said.

He pulled off the woman’s clothes and sexually assaulted her, even as the woman repeatedly told Cornileus “no” and tried to push him away, documents said.

The woman eventually was able to get out from under Cornileus, pull on her clothes and run from the store.

The attack allegedly was caught on security cameras inside the store.

When Richland police confronted Cornileus, he denied everything until he was told about the security footage, court documents said.

Cornileus then admitted that he heard the woman tell him to stop, adding that he had committed “sexual misconduct,” documents said.

Cornileus, who lives in Richland, began working at the Pasco school as an assistant track coach in 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile. He became a paraeducator at Chiawana in 2017.

He previously spent a decade working as a fitness and track coach in Georgia.

Shane Edinger, a Pasco School District spokesman, said Cornileus will remain on leave pending the criminal investigation.

At Cornileus’ recent arraignment, prosecutors asked for bail to be set at $150,000. A defense attorney argued for a lower amount, citing his ties to the community and lack of criminal history.

Judge Bruce Spanner set it at $50,000.

Cornileus has been out of custody since posting bond. His trial is scheduled Feb. 11, and he’s been ordered to have no contact with the woman.

This story was originally published November 23, 2018 at 12:57 PM.