Doral police arrest charter school athletic coach and charge him with sex crimes
Doral police announced Tuesday the arrest of a charter school athletic coach who the agency is accusing of sex crimes involving minors.
Yuniesky Ramirez Martinez, 37, is facing several charges, including two counts of promoting the sexual performance of a child, a count of soliciting a sexual act with a child, and another of an offense against a student by an authority figure, Miami-Dade County jail records show. He was at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $40,000 bond as of Tuesday night after a judge ordered him to stay away from the victims.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by NBC Miami, Ramirez Martinez approached two teenage students at Downtown Doral Charter Upper School on Feb. 14 and told them to “do it” in a TV production room. As one of the teens performed a sexual act on the other, the warrant says, the coach recorded them with his cellphone from the other side of a window.
Citing the warrant, NBC Miami said Ramirez Martinez invited one of the students to perform a sex act. The warrant also says, according to the TV station, that Ramirez Martinez also told that teen that he would tell the other that she had sex with him if she didn’t agree to his sexual advances.
According to Herald news partner CBS4 News, the teen told her principal on Feb. 17 about the situation, and the administrator called Doral police.
Ramirez Martinez is also a part-time security monitor at the charter, Kim Ortiz, the school’s principal, said in a statement acquired by NBC Miami.
“Mr. Ramirez was immediately terminated as an employee with Downtown Doral Charter Upper School and has NOT been on school grounds since the initial report,” the principal said. “DDCUS continues to cooperate with all law enforcement authorities and cannot comment further on the investigation.”
The charter school contracts with the district to “provide certain services” but is independently run by its governing board and is responsible for the hiring, disciplining, and firing of its own employees, a Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokesperson told the Herald.
Anyone with information on Ramirez Martinez is encouraged to call Doral police Det. Trevor Roberts at 305-593-6699, ext. 2560.
This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 7:19 PM.
