SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California water polo coach was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting teenage women throughout underwater coaching classes whereas he claimed to be getting ready them for competitors, prosecutors mentioned.
Jurors convicted Bahram Hojreh — who coached for the Worldwide Water Polo Membership in Los Alamitos, California, and Kennedy Excessive Faculty in close by La Palma — of twenty-two felony counts together with sexual battery and lewd acts on a baby on 9 teenage victims from 2012 to 2017, the Orange County District Legal professional’s workplace mentioned in a press release.
Hojreh, 46, was additionally convicted of a lesser assault cost on a tenth sufferer, prosecutors mentioned.
Throughout trial, victims testified that the coach abused them underwater throughout teaching classes and claimed it was to “toughen them up” for competitors. In some situations, their mother and father have been poolside when the assaults occurred at an Olympic-size pool at a army base in Los Alamitos, prosecutors mentioned.
“The injuries these younger women suffered by the hands of this monster is probably not seen, however they’re very, very actual and they’re scars that they’ll carry with them without end,” District Legal professional Todd Spitzer mentioned within the assertion.
Hojreh is being held with out bail pending sentencing. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 12.
A message searching for remark was left for his lawyer.
After the allegations, Hojreh was barred from participation in USA Water Polo occasions.
A bunch of gamers who accused him of abuse filed a lawsuit in opposition to the membership and USA Water Polo, alleging they failed to guard them. Final yr, they reached a $14 million settlement.
