Long before Boulder City coach was indicted, alleged victims reported him in 2016
Two alleged victims of an ex-Boulder City football coach accused of sexual misconduct reported him to Clark County authorities a decade ago when he was at another school, according to newly released court records.
At the time, their allegations went nowhere.
Deputy District Attorney Michael Allmon, who is now prosecuting Frank Mariani, 46, said school police investigated, but back then, prosecutors from his office did not pursue the charges Mariani faced.
He said he did not know why those charges were previously denied but noted that Mariani’s behavior was hard to believe in a vacuum.
“That’s exactly what someone who’s doing crimes against children is counting on,” he said.
Allmon added: “And that doesn’t mean the DAs don’t believe them. It just means that these (allegations) become harder for us to prove, too.”
The Clark County School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment. James Oronoz, an attorney for Mariani, declined to comment.
Mariani — known as “Coach Bubba” — was indicted in late April on counts of lewdness with a child under the age of 16; child abuse, neglect or endangerment; and lewdness in the presence of a child or vulnerable person.
The two alleged victims whose claims were not pursued in 2016 are the basis for three of the lewdness with a child charges Mariani currently faces.
Prosecutors say Mariani slapped the buttocks of one and also rubbed himself against the buttocks and touched the breast of the other.
Those alleged victims, now adult women, testified April 28 before the grand jury that indicted Mariani, according to a transcript.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal does not typically identify victims of sexual misconduct, and the alleged victims who testified were only identified in court records by their initials.
One woman testified that Mariani worked at Desert Pines High School, not as a teacher but as someone who would help students. She recalled reporting him to school staff in 2016.
“He was always hugging us,” she said, and was “always very, very touchy.”
She said he slapped her buttocks while she was at school. She looked at him and he smiled and laughed, she said. She testified that Mariani would also look at her breasts.
“He would look deep in my eyes like very sexually, very uncomfortable,” she said. “I didn’t want to be near him. And it would get to the point where I would see him in the hallways and he would always want to come for a hug or be just very touchy or just talk to you or even walk me to class.”
The other woman testified that Mariani worked as a helper for special education students at Desert Pines. She told grand jurors that at one point, he came behind her and “grabbed, like wrapped his arm around me and grabbed his other arm, his hand, and put it on my breast and pulled me closer to him and like rubbed his hips on me.”
She added that her breast was sore afterward and that Mariani also rubbed his penis on her. She testified that she also reported Mariani to school staff and spoke to school police at the time.
She indicated that she was friends with the other alleged victim from Desert Pines who testified.
State records show that Mariani taught at Desert Pines High School from 2011 to 2023, when he moved to Boulder City High School.
Boulder City students coached by Mariani also spoke to grand jurors, alleging that he repeatedly used his body to touch the players’ buttocks.
A 16-year-old boy, still in high school, testified that Mariani was his football coach.
He recalled Mariani simulating sex with someone in the weight room by moving his hips back and forth, touching the other person’s buttocks.
When the team went to play against the Fallon High School team in August, he testified, the school provided the Boulder City students with a locker room.
“He pulled down his pants to show us his underwear because there was an eagle on it,” the boy said.
In October 2025, the boy testified that at a team dinner, he was in a hot tub.
“I got out and he told me that if I was in a porn he’d watch it,” he said. At the time, the player was 15. He felt weird and disgusted, he said.
Another Boulder City football player said, “(W)hen we would stretch, I would be on all fours and he would get behind me and hump me or like grind on me,” he said.
He said Mariani instructed him to make an AI video of himself kissing another player. He said he “didn’t really think much of it,” but felt “kind of uncomfortable.”
A third player said that while doing jumping jacks, Mariani instructed the team to watch the player because Mariani thought a piece of football equipment he was wearing looked like his penis.
“I mean, it just degraded me,” he testified. “I wasn’t comfortable. I didn’t know how to feel with the situation but again I didn’t want to get in trouble, I didn’t want to get benched, I wanted to play football. But it was clear that that’s not what he wanted, he wanted to just, you know, go after us.”
Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com.
