California water polo coach convicted for sexually molesting 10 teen girls over the course of several years

A well known California water polo coach was convicted this Wednesday of sexually assaulting 10 teenage girls over the course of several years, KTLA reports.

Bahram Hojreh, 46, who coached at the International Water Polo Club in Los Alamitos and at Kennedy High School in La Palma, was convicted on 22 felony counts including sexual battery, sexual penetration, and lewd acts on a child, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Victims say he “touched their breasts, twisted their nipples, touched their genitals above and below their swimsuits and digitally penetrated them underwater during coaching sessions" — actions he claimed were meant to “toughen them up” for competition.”

Some of his victims won a $14 million lawsuit against USA Water Polo and a California club back in 2021.

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“These young women will spend the rest of their lives trying to forget these abhorrent moments of their childhood because someone they thought they could trust turned out to be a pedophile,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “The wounds these young girls suffered at the hands of this monster may not be visible, but they are very, very real and they are scars that they will carry with them forever. My heart breaks for each one of these victims and for their parents who did everything they could to help their children achieve their athletic dreams and instead had to learn the painful truth that their daughters had been molested right in front of them – and there was nothing they could do to protect them. Thankfully, these brave girls had the courage to speak up about the abuse and prevented additional girls from being molested.”