Gymnastics coach spotlighted in Miami Herald investigation arrested on sex abuse charges
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Key Biscayne’s Dark Secret
Key Biscayne gymnastics coach Oscar Olea had been trailed by sex abuse allegations for over 12 years. Weeks after the Miami Herald published an investigation, Olea was arrested.
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Oscar Olea, a longtime gymnastics coach in Key Biscayne who was accused 12 years ago of sexual misconduct with his young students but had never been charged, is in custody at the Miami-Dade jail.
His arrest Wednesday afternoon came weeks after a Miami Herald investigation revealed long-dormant allegations by two of his former students, now adult women.
Olea was booked on two warrants citing sex acts with a child, according to Miami-Dade jail records, each carrying a $25,000 bond.
Twelve years ago, the families of two of his students, who are cited as unnamed victims in the two warrants, separately went to Key Biscayne police with complaints. One said their daughter had been raped by Olea. The other, whose child was 13, presented love letters between the child and the coach, who was in his mid-20s. To protect the coach, the 13-year-old denied to her mom they were having sex.
The families were reluctant at that time to subject their daughters to the rigors of the criminal justice system. No charges came about. Until recently, Olea continued to coach young girls at his studio in Key Biscayne and at another facility in Kendall.
Police took a renewed look at Olea after the Herald published its investigation.
When questioned by a Miami Herald reporter in January while coaching at a Kendall gym, Olea, 38, said: “I can’t turn my back on the girls while I’m working.”
Around that same time, his lawyer, Beatriz Llorente, “denie[d]’ each and every allegation of sexual misconduct” in a list provided by the Herald.
The former students, now adults, who have not been identified because they are alleged victims of sex abuse, contacted police after the Herald investigation was published.
The 13-year-old, now in her mid-20s, told the Herald Olea had sexually abused her repeatedly. According to interviews with the Miami Herald and one of the arrest warrants, Olea acted as an older brother to her during a difficult period of her life when her parents were going through a divorce.
But eventually the brotherly relationship ended when during her private gymnastics lessons he started to kiss her and finger her, according to both the woman and the warrant. This happened around 10 times over a period of months.
Olea raped her at the American Gymsters gym in Key Biscayne during private gymnastics lessons, she later told the Herald. She also said he forced her in sexual activity at his house and in his car.
“I was scared to scream and call attention because I knew I would get in trouble,” she told the Herald.
According to the arrest warrant, at one point she feared she might be pregnant and he took her to a medical facility in Coral Gables where a test was performed by one of Olea’s friends. The result was negative.
Speaking to the Herald after Olea’s arrest, the woman said: “I am happy, I am thrilled... . I feel relieved.”
She told the Herald she was thankful police investigated Olea well this time, but noted that she did not appreciate the way complaints were handled in the past.
Key Biscayne Police Chief Francis Sousa said no charges could be charged 12 years earlier because the victims did not want to go forward. He was not chief at the time.
Olea has not been employed by American Gymsters in years. In recent years, he has operated his own Key Biscayne studio, Flipout Workout.
The second charge involves a now 30-year old woman who now lives out of state and whose mother told the Herald that her daughter had been raped when she was 17 by Olea.
According to the other arrest warrant, the victim told police that when she was 16, she noticed Olea would touch her inappropriately, on her buttocks and breasts, while assisting her in completing certain gymnastics moves.
Olea would allegedly tease her about being a virgin. “No one is going to like you because you don’t know what you’re doing since you never had sex,” she remembered him telling her, according to the warrant.
He also showed her a photo of him kissing another minor to get her jealous, she told police.
One day, during what Olea called a “game” in which he would penetrate her with his finger, he pulled out a condom and said “we are just going to do it,” and proceeded to have vaginal sex, according to the warrant.
The victim remembered “feeling horrified” and “freaking out,” says the warrant.
The woman told police that she and Olea had engaged in intercourse twice at American Gymsters, a Key Biscayne gym where Olea worked for a while, and once at Olea’s mother’s apartment in Key Biscayne.
Reached out for comment, the victim’s mother, who had previously told the Herald that her daughter had been raped by Olea before her daughter went to police, said she was relieved that he had finally been arrested.
A third accuser reached out to Key Biscayne police recently to state that Olea had had sex with her when she was as young as 16 and he was eight years older. She was not a gymnastics student but had been a coworker at the village recreation center, where Olea taught for a time. She, too, had told her story to the Herald earlier.
“I definitely resent him,” she said.
Her complaint is not mentioned in the warrants.
Previous investigation
Prior to the investigation that led to Olea’s arrest, he had come to the attention of police in connection with a different set of complaints. Two families had alleged that their daughters, ages 4 and 7, had been touched inappropriately and spoken to by Olea in a sexual manner.
That investigation opened in September 2023 and was closed in January, with no charges.
“I am happy that he is off the streets, but I am sad that it took this long,” said the father of the 7-year-old. “We as a community need to do a better job protecting our children.”
Miami Herald staff writer Chuck Rabin contributed.
This story was originally published February 28, 2024 at 5:20 PM.
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