A student athlete who was alleged raped by a former strength coach took the stand at trial today.

The 18-year-old high who attends school in Toledo said he met Zachary Gibson the summer going into his freshman year.

“We met through a camp for football stuff,” he said.

Today was the second day of Gibson’s trial. Gibson, 32, formerly of Bowling Green, faces 22 charges, including rape.

Gibson was his trainer at Fastrak Performance, and they became friends, the witness said. They also communicated via Snapchat – something he didn’t do with his other coaches.

“It seemed like it was normal because he had everyone else on Snapchat,” the witness said about Gibson.

The teen said when he would visit Gibson at his apartment, they would drink and watch movies.

He recalled waking up one morning in July of 2021 at Gibson’s apartment and feeling “icky” a moist about his buttocks – then just went about his day.

Wood County Assistant Prosecutor Charles McDonald showed the witness multiple videos that he identified as himself by the underwear, shorts and birthmark.

“In each one of these clips, that’s you and you don’t have any recollection of that happening,” McDonald said.

The witness responded in the affirmative.

His mother testified Tuesday about the birthmark located on her son’s buttock.

Defense attorney Christopher Lawrence objected to admitting the videos into evidence, indicating there was nothing to link the videos to his client.

McDonald said the videos were taken from Gibson’s phone and Wood County Common Pleas Judge Joel Kuhlman overruled the objection.

In cross examination, defense attorney Sara Roller asked the teen whether prosecutors talked with him about what he should say on the witness stand, how to say it, and how to be believable. The witness responded “no.”

“He pressured people into drinking,” the witness said and added he didn’t remember Gibson ever doing anything to make him feel uncomfortable.

On July 2, 2021, certain moments of that night you can’t remember, Roller asked.

“No, I can’t remember the exact date,” the witness said.

Roller accused the witness of adding to his story between conversations with the detective in January 2023 and April 2023 and that this morning was the first time she heard he woke up and his buttocks felt wet.

“It was a while ago,” the witness said.

The witness said he drank with Gibson on other occasions to the point of being intoxicated, but when asked by Roller if he ever drank so much, he wet himself in the middle of the night, he said no.

A second witness testified how Gibson provided him with steroids.

The 19-year-old said he was homeschooled but played sports at Bowling Green High School.

He said he started training with Gibson at Fastrak about meeting him at age 13 at a football camp.

“He was kinda like a big brother to me. We were pretty close,” he said.

When Gibson offered him steroids, he said he felt pressured to accept them but never used them.

“I was scared to death to take them. My parents would rip my head off,” he said.

He said he threw them away in a dumpster behind Gibson’s apartment.

Roller asked about a text the witness sent Gibson about offering sex.

“We both did that,” the witness said and denied ever having sex with the defendant.

He got defensive when Roller questioned his memory.

“That’s also four years ago … but I have it in front of my face right now,” he said, referring to the printout of text conversations he had with Gibson.

The witness talked about visiting Gibson in his Bowling Green apartment in 2020, and paused when Roller said her client didn’t move to the city until 2021.

“I don’t know the exact date when he moved there,” the witness said.

Also called as witnesses this morning were Heidi Malott, a licensed intervention social worker at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital; and Janet Zale and Caitlin Anthony, both with the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center in Toledo.

Malott explained how offenders often share relationships with the victims’ families as a way to gain access to a child and offered an opinion of why alleged victims delay in reporting cases of sexual abuse.

In cross examination, Malott said she never talked to the case’s alleged victims and relied on investigator’s questions.

She said it was not her job to determine whether a child was lying, and by high school they shouldn’t have trouble remembering the details.

Anthony and Zale both testified how they extracted and analyzed information from digital devices related to the case.

Once there is a drug connection – in this case steroids — ONIC can be involved, Anthony confirmed.

She used text message where Gibson referred to himself as “Coach Gibson” to identify the phone as his.

She said GPS location data pinpointed where Gibson was through the days of July 2-3, 2021, and confirmed McDonald’s question that videos of the alleged rapes pulled from Gibson’s phone corresponded with the timeframe his phone was at his Juniper Drive apartment in Bowling Green.

She also confirmed they were filmed using the Snapchat app.

Lawrence questioned her expertise and training, claiming she hadn’t gotten beyond beginner’s training, and moved to disqualify her as an expert witness.

His request was overruled.

Anthony said she never checked where the phones of the two juvenile witnesses who testified today were and couldn’t confirm the conversation about the purchases of steroids took place in Wood County.

GPS fixes also are approximation and not precise, she confirmed.

The trial will continue after lunch.