news-record.com

GREENSBORO – A former assistant baseball coach and first baseman at Wake Forest University was arrested Tuesday night on charges he solicited a child by computer for sexual activity.

Jon Edward Palmieri, 32, of 809 Bellview St. in Winston-Salem was arrested after chatting for about a month online with a Guilford County Sheriff’s deputy who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, according to the sheriff’s office and court records.

Court records state Palmieri “used a computer to solicit by offering to perform explicit sexual acts” and agreed to meet the child at a local movie theater Tuesday, where he was arrested by deputies.

Court records indicate that Palmieri currently works for the N.C. Baseball Academy.

However, owner Scott Bankhead said Palmieri never was employed by the academy and did not have access to any of the children there.

He was released from the Guilford County jail in Greensboro after posting a $5,000 bond.

Palmieri worked as a hitting coach for the Demon Deacons’ baseball team from 2004 through 2008, according to a biography produced by the university.

He was not retained after the school decided not to renew the contract of former coach Rick Rembielak this spring.

According to the biography, Palmieri graduated from Wake Forest in 1999. He played first base and spent a short time in the minor leagues before turning to coaching.

A message left for Palmieri was not immediately returned Thursday. It is unclear whether he has retained a lawyer.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com