Simone WilsonUpdated below: The sheriff says Arrioja actually molested two 14-year-old players.
Originally posted February 22 at 6 p.m.
A former soccer coach for the Los Angeles Misioneros, a private under-17 club team based out of Inglewood, has been accused of molesting one of his young players.
The Los Angeles District Attorney is charging 48-year-old Javier Arriola with “four [felony] counts of lewd act upon a child age 14 or 15 and one [felony] count of sending harmful matter” …
… which probably means sending some sort of sexual material to a minor.
The complaint doesn't specify whether the 15-year-old victim was a boy or a girl, but the Misioneros is an all-boys team. (Its sister team for girls is called the Los Angeles Legends.) From the D.A.'s office:
The charges involve one victim who was allegedly assaulted on four occasions – between May and November 2011 – at various locations, including the defendant's home and local parks…
Deputy District Attorney Jane Creighton of the Sex Crimes Division tells the Weekly that the Misioneros “is the team that he is associated with. According to information that I have, at the time of offenses he was a coach for that team.”
However, Jerry Camacho, president of the Misioneros, says Arrioja was a personal trainer who split from the team to host private workouts about a year-and-a-half ago.
“Actually he was coaching one of my younger teams, but at some point [around September 2010] he left the field, and he took some of my players to his own field,” says Camacho.
The team's president adds that the only complaints he ever got about Arrioja were that he was “too strict” or working the kids too hard.
The Misioneros apparently practice at Carver Middle School in South L.A. …
… and host home games at Sentinel Field in Inglewood. The program trains young boys as part of the United Soccer League's Premiere Development League. There's a very thorough history of the Misioneros on Wikipedia — the team has undergone many name, location and coaching changes over the last few years.
Update: Below is a news release from the Special Victims Bureau of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, which says Arrioja may have had more victims.
Detectives from Sheriff's Special Victims Bureau are conducting an investigation involving the alleged sexual molestation of two 14-year old soccer players by their club team coach, Suspect Javier Arrioja.The case originated when a 14-year old Hispanic male reported to East Los Angeles Sheriff's Station deputies that he had been inappropriately touched by his 48-year old soccer coach. The lewd acts were alleged to have occurred in the suspect's car in Obregon Park in East Los Angeles, and in the coach's home in East Los Angeles during early November 2011.
The Sheriff's Special Victims Bureau investigation resulted in identifying a second 14-year old male Hispanic victim who reported similar lewd acts committed by the suspect in the suspect's car. The second case is still under investigation.
The suspect allegedly touched the victims in an inappropriate manner.
Suspect Arrioja is a coach for the “Missioneros,” a private soccer club for boys under age 17. He has coached boys and girls soccer teams in the Los Angeles area for over 15 years.
On February 17, 2012, Special Victims Bureau detectives contacted and arrested the suspect at his home in the 100 block of N. Townsend Ave, East Los Angeles without incident. The suspect was transported and booked at the East Los Angeles Sheriff's Station, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. He is being held on $300,000.00 bail. …
Sheriff's Special Victims Bureau detectives believe it is possible there are additional victims and urge anyone who may have been a victim to contact investigators. If you have any information concerning the suspect please contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Special Victims Bureau at 1-877-710-LASD (5273) or specialvictims@lasd.org (Habalamos Espanol).
[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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