Five girls between the ages of 7 and 10 who were enrolled at Twins Gymnastics in Coral Springs have accused the gym owners’ brother, Leonardo Suarez Alvarez, of molestation over a two year period. Twins Gymnastics is owned by twin sisters Maria Elena and Maria del Carmen Suarez. The police reports stated that Leonardo Suarez Alvarez volunteered at the gym. He would reportedly clean the gym and also drive the kids to classes at the gym.
Suarez Alvarez was arrested on September 27 on five charges of lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim under age 12. He is being held in Broward County without bond as he is a citizen of Ecuador and prosecutors argued he is a flight risk. The arrest report details similar allegations by all of the girls involving Alvarez touching their breasts over the clothing. The reports states that a 10-year-old girl told Coral Springs detectives she reported the incidents involving the touching of the breast and vaginal area to “Ms. Maria,” one of the owners, and Maria told her she would tell her brother to stop. However, the girl told police that Suarez Alvarez continued to touch her inappropriately and she witnessed him inappropriately touching other girls, as well.
Leonardo Suarez Alvarez is 52 years old and lives in Tamarac. Twins Gymnastics is located at 1297 North University Drive in Coral Springs. According to the gym’s website (take down as of this date), it provide kids a “safe location” to “hang out after school.”
Like any other business, a gym is responsible for exercising care to protects the children under its supervision and must use due care in the retention and supervision of employees. If the facts are that Twins Gymnastics allowed a volunteer to remain working at the gym after receiving a sexual misconduct complaint from a minor, an investigation in to whether Twins Gymnastics exercised adequate supervisions is certainly warranted.
Horowitz Law represents children who were sexually abused in connection with their participation in youth athletics. If you or a loved one was sexually abused, raped or sexually molested by a youth coach, team leader, team administrator or sports team member, contact our law firm at (954) 641-2100 or send an email to sexual abuse lawyer Adam Horowitz at [email protected] for a free consultation.