Updated at 4:55 p.m., Saturday, September 23, 2006
Soccer coach charged with sexual assault
Advertiser Staff
A longtime O'ahu youth soccer coach suspected of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old player was charged with six counts of third-degree sexual assault today.Fred Rames, 65 of Wahiawa, is in police custody in lieu of $150,000 bail, police said.
Police have not said if other victims are involved.
Rames is a longtime coach and organizer of youth soccer programs. He also taught part time at a Wahiawa public school and headed a nonprofit organization that tutors underprivileged children, according to a 2001 Advertiser article.
He was arrested Thursday afternoon near Ka'ala Elementary School in Wahiawa before a youth soccer practice.
An investigation began after a 7-year-old boy was diagnosed with a venereal disease during a routine physical exam. Police said the boy said he had been sexually assaulted by his soccer coach.
Police have been interviewing children and parents who have stepped forward. Third-degree sexual assault is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
