Calling him likely pedophile, judge orders gymnastics coach jailed until sex abuse trial

Oscar Olea, the popular girls’ gymnastics coach charged with six counts of sexual abuse of two of his now-former students, must remain in jail until his trial, a judge ordered Thursday.

After two days in which evidence was aired, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Alberto Milian told Olea’s lawyer that what he heard “led me to believe that your client actually was a pedophile.”

“He is an older man in a position of authority, custodial. He has the authority of being a mentor and a coach. He pretends he is the father figure or the brother figure who is there for ...females that are susceptible,” Milian said of Olea, who coached girls as young as 4.

The judge continued: “The only place right now to protect the community is if he is incarcerated.”

That ruling came at the end of a day highlighted by the playing of a recorded police interview with an alleged victim who said she was 13 when Olea, who coached mostly in Key Biscayne, first abused her.

A former student, now in her mid-20s, she described the relationship of trust Olea built with her that led to the abuse by the man who was 12 years her senior.

She said she didn’t confide in friends or anyone else because she was ashamed.

“I was ashamed in the inside,” she said. “I was still a virgin before him. And it’s not something, you know, especially at that age that you go around saying.”

The alleged victim whose words were heard in court Thursday had spoken to the Miami Herald for its investigation of Olea, called Key Biscayne’s Dark Secret, telling reporters he had assaulted her digitally on numerous occasions during private gymnastics lessons. But she had not revealed, until her interview with police, that he had coerced her into sexual intercourse.

“So, being completely truthful and open, we did have sex,” she said. “I have never disclosed it as my mom, now, she would have a heart attack.”

In the recorded testimony, she said she was willing for it to become public in a criminal justice setting because she “didn’t want it to happen to anyone else,” and that her intention in making certain details public in the earlier Herald article was the same.

The woman also described manipulating her parents to believe Olea, who continued to coach children as recently as a month ago, was like an older brother to her 13-year-old self. Her mother even invited the coach over to the house to get to know him. In her mother’s house, she said, nothing ever happened, because they wanted to keep up the appearance of a sibling-like relationship.

During one purported sexual encounter at the American Gymster’s gym in Key Biscayne, Olea allegedly pushed her up against a monkey bar and “starts kissing me and touching me and telling me that I’m beautiful, that he loves me,” she said in the recorded interview with the police.

Olea, 38, who was handcuffed appeared to be taking notes while the recorded testimony was played in the courtroom. The defendant wore a red jail uniform — reserved for inmates who are high profile and are separated from other inmates in a safety cell, according to a corrections officer at Thursday’s hearing.

The two unnamed alleged victims in the arrest warrants came forward to police days after the Herald published its investigation. One woman cited in the article had a formal interview with police the next week and the other, who had to fly in from another state, gave a formal interview two days before the coach’s arrest last week.

Beatriz Llorente, Olea’s lawyer, repeatedly quizzed a police officer on the witness stand, seemingly trying to poke holes in the reporting, until the judge intervened and said: “May I remind you that the media is not on trial here.”

Earlier in the hearing, Llorente brought up a police report referenced in the Herald article that described a third individual, an 18-year-old woman who was stumbling drunk in 2011 on Crandon Boulevard, Key Biscayne’s main road, when her walking companion called police for help. The companion was Olea. That woman told the Herald Olea had been having sex with her since she was 16, and that she felt taken advantage of by the coach, who was eight years older.

Although that woman made a formal complaints to police recently, she has not been included as a victim in the charges. Detective Carlos Ugalde testified that the investigation is ongoing. Circuit Judge Alberto Milian cut short Llorente’s questioning about that accuser.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Milian said of the defense attorney’s line of questioning. “If I’m not considering any other accusations, then I don’t think we should get into it.”