Leonardo Suarez Alvarez, a 53-year old volunteer at Twins Gymnastics in Coral Springs, has been sentenced to 18 months in state prison and placed on sex offender probation for molesting five girls between the ages of 7 and 10 who were enrolled at the gym. He pleaded guilty to give counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim under 12 years old. He is expected to be deported to his native country, Ecuador, after the completion of his prison sentence.
At the time of the molestation, Twins Gymnastics was owned by twin sisters Maria Elena and Maria del Carmen Suarez. Leonardo Suarez Alvarez is the brother of the gym's owners. Suarez Alvarez was accused of multiple acts of molestation over a two year period prior to his arrest in September 2018. Each of the girls reported that Suarez Alvarez caressed their breasts over their clothing. One of the victims, a 10-year-old girl, told Coral Springs detectives she reported the incidents involving the touching of the breast and vaginal area to "Ms. Maria," one of the owners, and Maria told her she would tell her brother to stop. However, the girl told police that Suarez Alvarez continued to touch her inappropriately and she witnessed him inappropriately touching other girls, as well. The police reports stated that Leonardo Suarez Alvarez volunteered to clean the gym and also drive the kids to classes at the gym.
Twins Gymnastics is located at 1297 North University Drive in Coral Springs. The gym's website formerly marketed the gym as providing kids a "safe location" to "hang out after school." Like any other business, a gym is responsible for exercising care to protects the children under its supervision and must use due care in the retention and supervision of employees. If the facts are that Twins Gymnastics allowed a volunteer to remain working at the gym after receiving a sexual misconduct complaint from a minor, an investigation in to whether Twins Gymnastics exercised adequate supervisions is certainly warranted.
Horowitz Law represents children who were sexually abused in connection with their participation in youth athletics. If you or a loved one was sexually abused, raped or sexually molested by a youth coach, team leader, team administrator or sports team member, contact our law firm at (954) 641-2100 or send an e-mail to sexual abuse lawyer Adam Horowitz at adam@adamhorowitzlaw.com for a free consultation.