On Wednesday, November 13, 2024, Carlos Cruz Concepción, a Miami-Dade volleyball coach, was arrested for allegedly molesting a teen girl. Concepción, 31, was charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child between 12 and 16. According to media reports, the 16-year-old victim told Miami-Dade police that she was inappropriately touched over her clothing on several occasions during practice by her volleyball coach, Carlos Concepción. The abuse occurred in 2023 when Concepción was the volleyball coach at Bridge Prep Academy of Village Green, located on SW 120th Street in Miami. The police report also said Carlos Cruz Concepción took pictures of the girl in the locker room while in her underwear. Concepción posted bail and has been released.
During the investigation, police officials discovered that Concepción was fired from Bridge Prep Academy for sending inappropriate messages to underage students. Concepciónand is currently a volleyball coach at Divine Savior Academy and 305 Volleyball in Doral, police said. When interviewed about the incident, Concepción claimed that he never touched the victim intentionally, but if he ever did touch her vagina, it was accidental. The 305 Volleyball Club director, Alan Obrado,r provided a press release stating,
"As of last night, 305 Volleyball Club was stunned, to say the least, with the news of alleged sexual violence and misconduct from Mr. Carlos Ismel Cruz, while working at his prior School Bridge Prep Academy of Village Green during 2023. These allegations did not occur at 305 VBC or Divine Savior Academy.
As an obvious answer to these allegations, Mr. Cruz does not work anymore at 304 VBC or at Divine Savior Academy. We will be meeting with the parents of his team to check if any girls have any issues or something to say about Mr. Cruz's behavior while at the club. Carlos Ismel Cruz passed 3 background checks (USAV, AAU and an internal one) to be eligible to coach at 305 VBC and DSA, he cleared them all. He had no prior criminal past."
Obrador said Concepción passed three background checks to be eligible to coach and had no prior criminal record. Concepción appeared before a judge on Thursday, who granted him a $7,500 bond but ordered him to stay away from the alleged victim and have no unsupervised visits with any children. Concepción posted bail and has been released. Police believe there could be other victims and urge anyone to report any inappropriate behavior by Concepción,
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing survivors of sexual abuse. We have handled multiple cases of sexual abuse by authority figures in schools. It is expected that any institutions in which children learn and develop skills offer an environment in which they are safe from violence, bullying, harassment, and sexual abuse. Athletic coaches are entrusted to facilitate learning and support their players' educational and training needs. Anyone who sexually violates children has no place working in the community or school athletic programs. Any organization committing such a crime must take responsibility for failing to properly screen potential coaches and protect their players.
If you or a loved one was sexually abused, assaulted, raped, or molested by a coach, principal, teacher, or other school employees, contact our law firm at 888-283-9922 or send an e-mail to sexual abuse lawyer Adam Horowitz at adam@adamhorowitzlaw.com for a free consultation.