Miami Gardens track coach sexually abused teen athlete, jury says
The founder and head coach of a successful Miami Gardens youth track and field program was found guilty of sexually abusing a girl he coached.
The six-person jury took three hours on Friday afternoon to convict Miami Gardens Xpress track club founder Darius Lawshea, 50, of sexual activity with a child and two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation.
The coach has been behind bars at the Metro West Detention Center since his arrest in October 2020. Lawshea, known as “Coach D,” was charged in six other cases. Those cases have yet to go to trial.
The victims in the cases were all student-athletes in his track and field program, court records show.
The jury voted on Lawshea’s guilt regarding only one victim, who was 13, but heard testimony from her and three other victims.
Lawshea, prosecutor Lily Wisset argued, abused his authority and stature as a community leader when he took advantage of girls he was coaching.
Defense attorney Ariel Lett, however, said the case was built on inconsistencies, with the testimony of victims “evolving” as time went on. Lett also pointed to the lack of physical evidence.
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The first victim to come forward said she was abused in 2010 but didn’t report the abuse to police until a decade later because “she was fearful because Mr. Lawshea was loved by everyone in the community and she didn’t want to get into trouble.” She said she was pushed to report the abuse after discovering that Lawshea also molested her younger sister.
Parent reported coach before charges
In June 2012, a mother told police “she felt the communication between her [14-year-old] daughter and [Lawshea] was flirtatious and feared for her daughter’s safety,” according to a report.
The report said the investigation was closed due to insufficient evidence. But it also noted, “because of the nature of the complaints received and statements obtained from members of the athletic programs, there was concern because [Lawshea’s] behavior appears to be improper for a person in his position of authority as a young female’s coach or other juveniles.”
Miami Herald Staff Writer David J. Neal contributed to this report.
