Fifth victim files civil lawsuit against AYSO after Lancaster coach sentenced to 130 years in prison for molestation
07/18/2018 4:26 am PDT
via KTLA:
TORRANCE, Calif. -- (KTLA) -- A fifth person has filed a civil lawsuit against the American Youth Soccer Organization after a Lancaster coach was sentenced to 130 years in prison for molesting 15 children in 2014.
"AYSO has to be responsible for its actions," said Paul Mones, an attorney for the unnamed person identified as John Doe 5 on Tuesday at a news conference in Torrance.
Renoir Vincent Valenti was sentenced in April 2014 after he molested 14 boys and a young girl between 1995 and 2012, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said previously. Of the 14 boys, six were soccer players he coached, the DA's Office said.
The victims of the 54-year-old man ranged in age from 8 to 12 years old.
On Tuesday, Mones said the person identified as John Doe 5 was not a victim in the criminal case.
"Unfortunately, in many cases where children are sexually abused most of them don't come forward in a criminal case," Mones said. "In this case, he did not come forward at that time."
Another attorney at the news conference, Irwin Zalkin, said the AYSO was "aware" the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Child Abuse Unit was investigating Valenti and he was not cooperating with their investigation.
