Police said that two men from the semiprofessional Bellingham Slam basketball team contacted them because they believed they were being video recorded while showering after a game at Seattle Pacific University.
BELLINGHAM — An assistant basketball coach who was under investigation for videotaping players while they showered has been found dead in a Spokane hotel room, police said.
Bellingham police said in a statement on Wednesday that two men from the semiprofessional Bellingham Slam basketball team contacted them last week because they believed they were being video recorded while showering after a game at Seattle Pacific University in late August.
Police identified the suspect as Kip Leonetti, listed as an assistant coach on the team’s website and an employee of Western Washington University’s student-recreation center. He had been interviewed by police and placed on administrative leave Sept. 6, according to the statement. Investigators conducting an initial analysis of Leonetti’s cellphone confirmed seeing the images, it said.
Bellingham police said Spokane police notified them Wednesday that Leonetti had been found dead Monday in a hotel room in the Eastern Washington city. He died of an apparent suicide, though the matter is under investigation by the Spokane Police Department, according to the statement.
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Bellingham police are investigating the videotaping of players to find out if other people were victimized, the statement said.