A prosecutor called a 47-year-old Concord man a “serial predator” who used social media to groom young girls and had inappropriate sexual contact with at least four underage females.
Joshua Pincoske, who until recently volunteered as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Colby-Sawyer College, was arrested Tuesday and charged with three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault and 51 counts of manufacturing child sexual abuse images.
JOSHUA PINCOSKE
Concord Police
The charges came after detectives obtained warrants to search two cellphones and a laptop, where they found hundreds of images and videos dating to 2017, according to an affidavit. A search warrant was executed at Pincoske’s North Spring Street residence on Feb. 2.
“I can only refer to this defendant as a serial predator,” said prosecutor George Waldron.
Pincoske pleaded not guilty to all charges during a brief hearing Wednesday afternoon. The most serious charges carry prison sentences up to 30 years.
Judge Andrew Schulman, who called the patterns of abuse outlined in the affidavit “overwhelming,” ordered Pincoske held without bail. According to court documents the abuse continued over a period of years up until recently.
Pincoske also faces one count of possession of a child sexual abuse image and one misdemeanor count of sexual assault.
Deputy Police Chief John Thomas said more charges likely will be filed.
During the hearing, defense attorney Peter McGrath said police overcharged Pincoske.
“Obviously, it is a serious allegation,” McGrath said. “There are many charges that are one event.”
He argued Pincoske should have been released with conditions, including a tracking device and home confinement. Pincoske has lived and worked in Concord for 20 years and has no criminal record, McGrath said.
According to the affidavit, Pincoske had 11 images of a 14-year-old girl, who was involved in a “specific youth basketball group in Concord,” taken in 2017. Thomas was unable to say if or how Pincoske was involved in the program.
“There is a pattern here of all these young girls having family troubles,” Waldron said. “This defendant befriended her.”
Data recovered from a smartphone showed 16 separate sexual acts involving Pincoske and another teenage girl between January 2019 and November 2019, according to court documents. The girl, who is now 17, was 14 and 15 at the time.
Police also observed a Snapchat conversation between August 2018 through January 2022 involving a 16-year-old girl.
“This conversation appeared to document Joshua ‘grooming’ (the girl) over a period of several months, with early conversations generally being benign in nature and discussing (the girl’s) activities at a local middle school she was known to attend, ” the affidavit reads.
“At one point, Joshua told (the girl) that he wanted to see her in a bathing suit and reminded her that ‘I have seen u before with less, right???’” the affidavit reads.
In one chat, the girl asked Pincoske to buy her a pregnancy test, according to the affidavit. Further conversation suggests she was pregnant, but no indication of who the father might be.
“(The girl) is known to Concord PD from prior contacts and can be described as a ‘high risk’ teenager struggling with personal issues,” the affidavit reads. “There are no charges sought in this affidavit related to (the girl).”
The charges follow an investigation begun by Farmington police in December 2020 after two 17-year-old girls there reported inappropriate sexual contact with Pincoske, according to an affidavit.
Pincoske paid the girls for explicit sexual images transmitted online and as well as in-person sexual activity inside his vehicle, the affidavit reads.
Pincoske faces trafficking charges in Strafford County, Waldron said. The case is still being investigated.
Waldron also mentioned a conversation on Kik Messenger from Jan. 19 to Feb. 1 of this year in which Pincoske sent images of a young female 15 to 20 years old to a man.
“Joshua and the man discussed their attraction to the female and to females ages 12-16 in general,” the affidavit reads.
Pincoske spoke with detectives and said he broke things off with the two girls from Farmington after finding out they were underage. He admitted to having an extramarital affair with an adult woman but denied other relationships with anyone under 18, according to the affidavit.
A profile of Pincoske on the Colby-Sawyer College website has been removed. The college said he is no longer part of the basketball team.
“During his time as volunteer and employee at the college, no complaints involving Mr. Pincoske were filed, nor did he exhibit signs that would suggest involvement in the type of behavior that led to his arrest,” the college wrote in a statement.Concord police assisted members of the Farmington Police Department, Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office and members of the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force with the execution of a search warrant.
