DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - Police have arrested a Doral coach accused of sending inappropriate messages to athletes of a youth football team.
Fernando Alonso Hernandez was arrested Friday and charged with felony child pornography and lewd lascivious assault on a child.
Officials said the 24-year-old sent sexually obscene text messages to two young boys, ages 12 and 13, on the Doral Broncos football team.
According to police, Hernandez developed a relationship with the victims and often referred to them as “baby” in text messages.
He’s also accused of texting the victims about inappropriate actions he wanted to perform on them.
“We were able to identify these text messages were against the law,” Doral Police spokesperson Rey Valdes said.
Police said one of the victim’s fathers notified authorities, and when Hernandez was confronted by officers, he admitted to sending the text messages.
“Alarmed, angry. What do you expect? You’re going through your kid’s cell phone and you find something like this,” Valdes said. “It’s alarming and worrisome to say the least.”
Hernandez is a volunteer football coach and, officials said, he passed necessary background checks.
The City of Doral released a statement, Friday:
“The safety and security of our youth athletes is paramount, and all our youth sports volunteers are required to pass a screening and background check, in keeping with Doral policies and National Recreation and Park Association’s guidelines. Hernandez underwent and passed this required screening process.”
Now, police are reminding parents on the importance of talking to their children.
“The issue here is that these kids really don’t have a say in the matter. These are minors,” Valdes said. “The parents are the ones that speak for them, and we, in turn, speak for the parents and for the community and justice in general.”
He was ordered by a judge in bond court to stay away from all parks in Doral and also to stay away from anybody under the age of 18.
Officials said Hernandez’s roommates kicked him out of his home. There was no answer when 7News tried to make contact at his mobile home in Doral.
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