Bryan Hoping for Swift Justice in Wake of Molestation and Rape Charges Against C.A.H.S. Coach
Governor Albert Bryan was dismayed to learn that a Charlotte Amalie High School track and field coach, who also served as a monitor, had allegedly raped several minors over multiple years, and the governor is hoping for swift justice in the matter.
2021-09-14 20:03:00 - VI News Staff
That's according to the administration's communications director, Richard Motta, who sought to clarify a previous response following a Consortium query. He told the publication Monday that Mr. Bryan "is dismayed by the allegations as any Virgin Islander or parent would be..."
He further stated that the administration was cooperating with the investigation, that there were no new facts to report, and that the governor supports the V.I. Dept. of Education's statement. The governor had not previously commented in public on the allegations.
The V.I. District Court on September 1 announced the arrest of former C.A.H.S. Coach Alfredo Bruce Smith for the molestation of multiple minor boys over the years of his employment at the V.I. Dept. of Education. Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha Baker filed documents in the District Court last week that stated C.A.H.S. administrators were made aware of the rape incidents — gruesome sexual violations that included Smith, 50, raping and using a penis pump on the minor victims — since 2019. Smith continued working at C.A.H.S. for more than a year after the school was made aware.
Previously reported by the Consortium
The rape incidents included multiple male minors, many whose hopes of becoming athletes were dashed by Smith's sexual assaults as some abandoned track and field after being violated by Smith. Smith worked as a track and field coach and school monitor at C.A.H.S.
According to documents filed in District Court by U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Special Agent Andrew Hayden, multiple minor boys contacted witnesses stating that Smith had not only performed sexual acts on them, he also used a machine on them.
According to the court documents, while one of the victims was a 16-year-old minor at C.A.H.S., the victim traveled to Puerto Rico on a school-sponsored track and field trip in March 2019 with Smith and other members of the track and field team. The victim relayed to one of the witnesses in the case several incidents on the trip that made the victim uncomfortable, according to court documents. In one incident that occurred at the beginning of the trip, Smith and one of the victims stayed in a room together with no other adult or student. During the second night of the trip, the victim who was in the room with Smith left the room and went to another teammate's room because the victim felt uncomfortable being in the room with Smith. This victim refused to provide details on what happened in the room that made him uncomfortable, but said that what happened in the room is something Smith could go to jail for.