New Mexico high school football coach accused of stealing money from player’s wallet

GALLUP, N.M. - A New Mexico high school football coach was fired after allegedly stealing money from a player’s wallet in the locker room, authorities said.

Miyamura High School coach John D. Roanhaus was arrested Oct. 5 by New Mexico State Police after video showed Roanhaus going into the school’s locker room and taking $40 from the wallet, court documents said.

John D. Roanhaus, 42, is pictured in a booking photo. (Photo credit: New Mexico State Police)

According to an arrest warrant, a police officer was contacted by a student’s mother who showed the officer cellphone video of the alleged incident. The video showed Roanhaus walking into the school’s locker area, taking two $20 bills from a black wallet and stuffing the money in his sock, Officer Nathaniel Renteria wrote in the arrest warrant.

Gallup-McKinley County Schools Superintendent Mike Hyatt told the Gallup Independent newspaper that Roanhaus was fired.

Roanhaus had been the head football coach at the high school in the small, New Mexico western city of Gallup since 2018.

He is the youngest son of New Mexico Hall of Fame coach Eric Roanhaus, who retired in 2016 as head football coach at Clovis High School after recording 343 wins, the most in state history.

Roanhaus, 42, was charged with larceny and non-residential burglary and ordered held on $2,000 bail.

This story was reported from Cincinnati. The Associated Press contributed.