The man also worked at a gym in Mooresville, and may have coached briefly in Cary earlier this year. Phillip Darryl Thompson, 31, faces 11 counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.

Capt. David Smith of the Sanford Police Department said investigators believe Thompson inappropriately touched 11 students at the Sanford Academy of Gymnastics and Cheerleading, a busy facility on Lee Avenue. Students ranged in age from 6 to 15 years old, Smith said.

Smith said a student at the gym told her parents she didn't want to go to class any more.

She later told her sister and then her parents about the touching, and as that child's parents talked to other parents, ''It just snowballed,'' the detective said.

Thompson began working at Sanford Academy in 2006, Smith said, but left in early January. He told police he then worked briefly at a gym in Cary, but was let go.

He was coaching at a gym in Mooresville, north of Charlotte, when he was arrested. Smith said police have found no record of similar charges against Thompson anywhere else.

Friday morning, Thompson remained in the Lee County Jail under a $1 million secured bond.