A major community debate has broken out in Miami, where a basketball coach long considered a pillar of the local youth sports scene has been charged with disgusting acts of lewd and lascivious acts with area children.
As reported by Miami-Ft. Lauderdale network WVSN-TV and NBC Miami, among other outlets, 50-year-old Lorenzo Green has been charged with lewd and lascivious molestation in connection with what can only be described as disgusting acts involving children on his youth basketball teams. WVSN reported that police claim Green lured area boys to his house, where he played them pornographic movies and got them to partake in masturbation contests in which he would pay the winner designated prize money.
"It's very sad because indeed the parents rely on him being a role model, and that's exactly what he wasn't," Miami Police Officer Kenia Reyes told WVSN. "We would never let these kids watch pornography."
While the charges against Green are undoubtedly serious, some refuse to believe that a man who was a key component of the youth basketball scene in Miami for more than 20 years could have had such malevolent intentions for the youth he took under his wing.
Notably, multiple teenagers who were coached by the 50-year-old quickly came to his defense shortly after Green was arrested.
"We played games, pool, watched TV and that's it," former Green hoops pupil Darius Walter told WSVN. Fellow Green-program alum Laquin Walter also claimed to have spent multiple nights at Green's house without any inappropriate interactions.
Walter's father, Darrel Walter, said that Green's accusers may have had alterior motives for raising their allegations against the coach, saying that the two brothers who accused Green of the masturbation contests may simply be mad at the coach for being kicked off his team.
According to WSVN, the youth basketball coach was held on a $90,000 bond and would be confined to house arrest when released, all while police search for more potential victims of his alleged inappropriate pornographic viewings.
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