THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WRENTHAM, Mass. -- A former NFL lineman and high school football coach was ordered held on US$100,000 cash bail Tuesday after he was charged with raping a 15-year-old female student whose father allegedly found hundreds of text messages she received from the man.

Danny Villa, who played six seasons with the New England Patriots and was the athletic director at Walpole High School, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Wrentham District Court to three counts of rape of a child over 14 and three counts of enticing a minor. Judge Warren Powers also told Villa to stay away from the girl and her family, Walpole schools and any children under 16 except his own.

Villa's lawyer Heather Baer said she planned to appeal the bail decision.

Prosecutors said Villa was the girl's basketball coach before she entered high school. The girl told police she had always been good friends with the 44-year-old Villa.

According to a police report, Villa began meeting the girl outside school in October, including near a housing development under construction in the town. Their meetings, which occurred until December, progressed from talking to kissing to touching, the girl told police.

Villa allegedly raped the student on three occasions, the report said.

On Dec. 11, the girl's father found more than 500 messages allegedly written by Villa during a one-month period. The messages said Villa had made a mistake, was going to lose his wife and children and loved the girl, according to the report written by Walpole Police Detective James O'Connell.

Villa resigned from the high school -- located in the town of 24,000 about 50 kilometres southwest of Boston -- on Dec. 23 after administrators said they received a credible allegation of criminal misconduct.

He then travelled to his home state of Arizona, where he surrendered to authorities Saturday after learning police there wanted to arrest him.

"He made no secret of his trip to Arizona," Baer said Tuesday.

Villa posted bail in Arizona and travelled to Massachusetts early Tuesday morning. He was arrested when he arrived at Logan International Airport in Boston.