{"id":49317,"date":"2014-02-28T00:32:06","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T08:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=49317"},"modified":"2014-02-28T09:29:50","modified_gmt":"2014-02-28T17:29:50","slug":"ex-soccer-coach-found-guilty-on-all-counts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2014\/02\/28\/ex-soccer-coach-found-guilty-on-all-counts\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-soccer coach found guilty on all counts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Renoir<\/a>
Renoir Valenti was found guilty on all 20 criminal counts, including five felony counts of continuous child abuse, four felony counts of lewd act upon a child, six misdemeanor counts of child molesting, four felony counts of procuring and offering false or forged instrument, and one count of disobeying a court order.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 Sniffles, soft sobs and sighs could be heard throughout an Antelope Valley courtroom Thursday during the reading of a verdict, which found longtime local soccer coach Renoir Valenti<\/strong> guilty of molesting and sexually abusing more than a dozen young boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis verdict is really for all the children in the Antelope Valley. It\u2019s been a long time coming,\u201d said prosecutor Jon Hatami, himself visibly emotional as the verdict was read.<\/p>\n

Valenti, an AYSO coach who used numerous aliases, was convicted of molesting 14 boys, six of whom were soccer players he coached, and a young girl. Valenti\u2019s victims ranged from 8 to 12 years old at the time of the crimes, and the incidents occurred between 1995 and 2012.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the 35-day trial, jurors reviewed 140 exhibits and heard testimony from 58 witnesses, including all of Valenti\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n

Many of the male victims\u2019 stories were similar. They were drawn to Valenti because he lavished them with gifts and took them on trips; they often spent nights at Valenti\u2019s home; and Valenti showered them with hugs and kisses, which then progressed to something more. The disturbing testimony on the sexual abuse ranged from accounts of genital fondling to attempted anal rape.<\/p>\n

Valenti is a classic pedophile, a master manipulator, and a liar who used his position as a youth soccer coach to gain the trust of single moms, so that he could prey on their children, Hatami told the jury during closing statements.<\/p>\n

\"DNA<\/a>
DNA from Valenti\u2019s saliva was found on the crotch of a young male victim\u2019s underwear and soccer shorts, one of the key pieces of evidence in the trial.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely no motive for all these young boys to lie about something like this,\u201d Hatami said. Hatami asked jurors to focus on key pieces of evidence that corroborated the victims\u2019 stories, including DNA from Valenti\u2019s saliva found on the crotch of a young male victim\u2019s underwear and soccer shorts, and \u201clove letters\u201d that Valenti had written to some of his victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just regurgitates love letters over and over,\u201d Hatami told the jury. Read one of the letters here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Valenti\u2019s court appointed defense attorney, Michael Morse, urged the jury to ignore the \u201camount of hysteria\u201d often associated with child sex abuse cases. \u00a0Valenti was trying to help the kids, and there was nothing nefarious or sexual about it, Morse told the jury during closing statements.<\/p>\n

\u201cRenoir denies all of this,\u201d Morse said.<\/p>\n

The jury didn\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n

After deliberating for just four hours, they found Valenti guilty on all 20 criminal charges, including five felony counts of continuous child abuse, four felony counts of lewd act upon a child, six misdemeanor counts of child molesting, four felony counts of procuring and offering false or forged instrument, and one count of disobeying a court order.<\/p>\n

Juror #6 sounded off outside the courtroom shortly afterward, saying Valenti was a manipulator and a phony.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no question that this guy is guilty\u2026 this really pisses me off,\u201d the juror said. \u201cLet that be a warning to all the other pedophiles out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatami said he cried \u201ctears of joy\u201d after the verdict, because he\u2019d felt a personal responsibility to put Valenti away.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s terrorized young boys for almost 20 years, and it\u2019s finally over,\u201d Hatami said.<\/p>\n

Morse said it was a difficult case to defend because there were so many victims, but he said Valenti was not the only one to blame.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody should really look at the parents who basically dumped their kids on him for years and years,\u201d Morse said.<\/p>\n

Valenti faces a 154-years-to-life sentence in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 18.<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Accused soccer coach: \u201cI did not molest any children!\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Child molestation trial opens against former AV soccer coach<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

AV soccer coach to stand trial on child molestation charges<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Boy molested more than 10,000 times, according to testimony<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Preliminary hearing resumes in soccer coach child-molest case<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Allegations aired in soccer coach child-molest case<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

AV soccer coach now charged with molesting 13 boys<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0More alleged victims identified in soccer coach child molestation case<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Local youth soccer coach charged with child sexual assaults, more victims sought<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 Sniffles, soft sobs and sighs could be heard throughout an Antelope Valley courtroom Thursday during the reading of a verdict, which found longtime local soccer coach Renoir Valenti guilty of molesting and sexually abusing more than a dozen young boys. \u201cThis verdict is really for all the children in the Antelope Valley. It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}