A former middle school coach in Riviera Beach was sentenced to 35 years and six months in prison on Nov. 4 for blackmailing a 16-year-old player into near-daily sexual abuse using a fake social media account that posed as a woman. Circuit Judge James Nutt handed down the sentence to 39-year-old Torrey Evans, telling the courtroom he believed the case warranted a life sentence.
Evans was convicted in June, according to reporting republished by Yahoo from the Palm Beach Post, of blackmailing the teen into the sustained abuse. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, and Evans rejected an earlier offer from prosecutors of five years in prison, opting instead to take the case to trial, per the same reporting.
How the Scheme Unfolded on X
During the summer of 2020, the teen connected with a woman on X, then known as Twitter, and sent her nude photos, the outlet reports. The purported woman then threatened to share those photos unless the boy had sex with Evans. There was no woman — Evans was controlling the account himself, a detail that traces back to his original arrest report, as the Palm Beach Post reported in May 2024. That earlier account specified that Evans used a different phone to operate the account, known as “@NaeNae_TruthTeller,” and that the arrest report states plainly that the woman did not exist.
The 2024 report also detailed the original allegations against Evans, then 36, describing him as accused of creating the fake profile specifically to obtain nude photos from a middle school boy before using the images to coerce the student into sex. Evans coached boys' basketball and girls' volleyball at JFK Middle School in Riviera Beach and had also worked temporarily as a basketball coach at Carver Middle School in Delray Beach, The Palm Beach Post's report notes.
Abuse Described in Gym Lots and Hotel Rooms
At sentencing, the yearslong abuse was described as occurring in gym parking lots and hotel rooms, according to the same account. Assistant State Attorney Marissa Chiarolanzio, addressing the court, said Evans's tissues were dry and that he shed no tears throughout the proceeding. Evans's defense attorney, Flynn Bertisch, represented him at sentencing.
The case was reported by the Bradenton Herald, which credited Palm Beach Post reporter Hannah Phillips, who covers public safety and criminal justice, with the underlying reporting on Evans's sentencing.
A Pattern Across South Florida Youth Sports
Evans's case adds to a string of recent sentencings involving adults who coached minors. A youth sports coach named Aydan Trueblood was sentenced to 26 years in prison in Peoria County, Illinois, for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl he coached, according to WFLX. Separately, former youth track coach Darius Tremayne Lawshea was sentenced to 50 years in prison in a case involving a 14-year-old, as reported by NBC 6 South Florida.
