In a lengthy pre-trial detention hearing for a Key Biscayne gymnastics coach accused of sexually abusing his students, the state attorney’s office played one of the alleged victims’ statements during court proceedings.
The hearing for Oscar Olea has been delayed several times after a series of missteps from the prosecution.
The judge was visibly frustrated Wednesday after the prosecution failed to properly redact the alleged victims’ names during one of the recordings that was played in court.
One of the Key Biscayne detectives also took the stand. The day ended with him being questioned by the defense attorney, Beatriz Llorente, before the hearing picks back up Thursday morning.
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Olea, 38, was in court wearing an orange jumpsuit. Members of his family were also present to support him.
This pre-trial detention hearing is functioning more like a mini-trial as the state tries to prove that Olea should be detained without bond while the defense works to cast doubt on the police investigation and the alleged victims’ statements that led to his arrest.
On Wednesday, we heard Olea himself via a video recording where he was seen speaking to police voluntarily last September after he was accused of making inappropriate comments about a 7-year-old girl’s rear end. The brother of the girl confronted Olea about it after one of his classes.
Olea denied making any such comments.
At one point during that interrogation, he told police he does at times tickle his students in a playful way. Detectives asked him to demonstrate what he does when he tickles students.
“I’ll go around like, tickle, tickle, ‘Smile oh my God,’ and I just lift them up,” he said. “Or I’ll go from here, tickle, tickle, that’s it."
Next, the courtroom heard an audio recording of one of the alleged victim’s statements when she went to police in February to report the alleged crimes.
"He would say, 'You’re OK,' 'This is fine,' like, 'We’re really close,' and then he would just say, 'You're my best friend, you’re my sister.' Like in a way grooming me to really be attached to him, and of course, I was at the time because I’ve been bullied all my life,” the alleged victim said.
The alleged victim, who’s now an adult, described the times she said they had sex. She said the first time it happened was when she was 16 years old. She also claimed the inappropriate touching started when she was 14.
The hearing resumes Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
