Monteria: football coach accused of underage abuse released

Despite the fact that the Attorney General's Office submitted testimonies and evidence to show that an alleged football teacher who arrived at a school in the La Unión sector, in the municipality of Montería (Córdoba), had sexually abused at least one minor, a guarantee judge refrained from sending him to prison and he was released.

According to the guarantee judge who made the decision, the evidentiary material submitted by the Prosecutor to issue his arrest warrant — forensic interview and testimonies of the child and his father — was not conclusive to imprison the sports instructor. Then, although his detention was legalized and charged, they did not impose an intramural insurance measure on him.

The Prosecutor's Office appealed the decision and the appeal will be resolved in the coming days. For the time being, although the 31-year-old instructor has been released, he will be linked to the proceedings initiated against him and must respond when required.

In addition, the prosecutor invited other persons who have been victimized by the alleged investigator to report their cases, so that they can be fully prosecuted.

In January 2022, this person would have presented himself as a talent scout who recruited minor league footballers for a more prestigious sports club. After gaining the trust of the minors who attended this school, he offered them money or promises of stardom in exchange for acceding to their requests. One of the parents discovered the situation when he checked the text messages on his son's cell phone.

“As stated by the victim and her complainant father, sadly a supposed instructor at a football school in Monteria took advantage of it to offer money and deception to the minor to commit any kind of abuse against his sexual integrity. It is investigating whether there are more victims,” said Cindy Tatiana Vargas, sectional director of the Prosecutor's Office in Córdoba.

“I offered him money and he was excited about becoming a great footballer if he followed in his footsteps, this led us with sufficient evidence to request the arrest warrant, yesterday the hearings were held to legalize it, imputation and for today the judge will resolve the measure to be imposed,” said the prosecutor. For now, the authorities are trying to determine if there are more minors involved and if they were victims of the coach.

It is important to note that the identity of the coach and the name of the sports school were not disclosed by the Prosecutor's Office. However, it became known that the child is 13 years old and was carrying out his sports process at the football school in the Cantaclaro neighborhood, south of Monteria.

The case of the football coach is one of ten that were presented by the Cordoba Sectional Prosecutor's Office, in a multiple operation against sexual abuse.

Most of the victims are minors and sometimes belong to people close to the victims. Eight of the ten defendants were sent to prison while they are being prosecuted.

For example, a 67-year-old man was captured on April 4 in the municipality of Moñitos, because he allegedly took advantage of a girl under 6 years old. When the victim was playing with other girls, he approached her abruptly and touched her private parts.

In another of the cases investigated, the stepfather of a minor had taken advantage of the victim's trust and through intimidation and deception carnally acceded to her. As a result of these abuses, the child became pregnant.

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