Former CAHS Coach Should Get 35 Years for Sex Crimes, Justice Department Says

Alfredo Bruce Smith — the former Charlotte Amalie High School track coach and hall monitor who for 15 years sexually abused and exploited male students under his supervision, including on school property — should spend 35 years behind bars for his crimes, the V.I. Justice Department said in a sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday in V.I. District Court.

Smith, 53, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 26 after admitting to 20 different offenses committed against a dozen male student-athletes over a 15-year period at change of plea hearing on Sept. 13.

He has been in custody since his arrest on Sept. 1, 2021, after witnesses brought allegations of his sexual misconduct to Homeland Security Investigations when complaints to school officials allegedly went unaddressed. He has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Puerto Rico since then.

The Justice Department filing by Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard E. Potter notes that Smith deserves to be imprisoned for life under federal sentencing guidelines, as was recommended by the Office of Probation, but the plea deal set the range at 30 to 35 years.