Florida coach charged with sex assault 11 years after first report
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.- A gymnastics coach has been charged with sexually assaulting a child -- 11 years after the girl originally reported the alleged abuse to police, reports CBS Miami.
Carl Lechner is accused of sexually preying on a child for years beginning when the girl was just a few years old back in the late 90's. On Tuesday, the Broward Sheriff's Office charged Lechner with the sexual assault.
However, CBS Miami reports that Fort Lauderdale Police records show the case was first brought to their attention in 2004 and that Fort Lauderdale Police closed the case with no charges being filed.
The victim said that at just 9-years-old she told police in graphic detail about what Lechner did to her. The police report from 2004 says she described how he would take her to a private place in his house.
"Once in the room he would close the bedroom door and lock it," the 2004 report says. The report says the police wanted the victim to confront Lechner and get him to confess but she couldn't.
The detective at the time wrote, "...one reason she might not be willing to confront Lechner is that the allegations are not true."
The victim told CBS Miami that she was too scared to confront her alleged abuser. The detective reportedly closed the case without passing it to prosecutors.
The Broward County Sheriff's Office reportedly arrested Lechner -- a children's gymnastics coach in Broward and Jupiter for years -- in late July for possessing child pornography. That arrest led to the victim in the 2004 case and new charges being filed against Lechner on Tuesday. He is being held in jail without bond.
The victim said the news of Lechner's arrest was a long time in the making.
"It's just something that I've tried to get away from for 12 years now so it seems belated but I'm relieved and I'm really grateful to the detectives that are on the case currently," she said.
In the sheriff's report from Tuesday, a detective writes that the victim's story remained the same from 2004 to 2015.