37-year-old Miami high school coach arrested for sexual abuse

An athletics coach at a Miami-area high school was arrested after police said he filmed two 16-year-old students engaged in a sex act and molested one of them for sexual favors.

Yuniesky Ramirez-Martinez, 37, was arrested Monday in Doral on charges including promoting a child’s sexual productivity, offenses against students by authority figures and solicitation of sexual violence by an authority figure.

Police say that on Valentine’s Day he enticed two teenage boys who are students at Downtown Doral Charter Upper School into sexual acts while filming before “punching” the boy and pressuring the girl to do the same act to perform on him.

Ramirez-Martinez, who also works as a part-time security monitor at the school, was hired just a few months ago, Doral Police Chief Edwin Lopez told NBC Miami.

“In his first few weeks on the job, he’s already committed multiple crimes, so we’re happy to put people like that in jail,” said Lopez, who went on to describe Ramirez-Martinez as “extremely dangerous.”

Yuniesky Ramirez-Martinez, 37, was arrested Monday in Doral for sex crimes based on allegations he filmed underage students engaged in a sexual act

Ramirez-Martinez is seen at a court date on Tuesday. He is being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in lieu of a $40,000 bond

Ramirez-Martinez, who also worked at Downtown Doral Charter Upper School (above) as a part-time security monitor, had been hired there just a few months before, police said

According to an affidavit accompanied by an arrest warrant, on Feb. 14, Ramirez-Martinez approached two students and made a lewd comment, then offered to take them to a private location where they “could do whatever they want.”

Ramirez-Martinez then led the young couple to an AV room with a two-way window and told them they could “do it,” according to police.

When Ramirez-Martinez walked into the adjoining room and used his phone to film through the window one teenager performing a sex act with the other, according to the affidavit.

Police say surveillance camera footage shows Ramirez-Martinez approaching the door to the other room moments later, before giving a thumbs-up signal and punching the male student.

Ramirez-Martinez also encouraged the two students “not to fall in love because they are too young,” the affidavit reads.

The next day, police said, Ramirez-Martinez approached the student and told her he had observed what she was doing to the student and asked her to perform the same sex act with him, arguing that she needed to be with someone with more experience.

When the girl protested and asked if he knew she was under 18, Ramirez-Martinez replied that he likes minors like her, the affidavit said.

In the days that followed, Ramirez-Martinez repeatedly molested the girl for sex and threatened to tell the boy that she and he were sexually active if she refused his advance, police say.

Doral Police are asking the public for information on other potential victims

Police say that on Valentine’s Day, Ramirez-Martinez enticed two teenage students from Downtown Doral Charter Upper School into sexual activity while he was filming

At this point, the girl went to the school officials and told them what had happened.

Kim Ortiz, the school’s principal, said in a statement to NBC Miami that upon hearing the allegations, administrators immediately reported them to Doral Police.

“As a result of its investigation, the Doral Police Department arrested Mr. Yunieski Ramirez, who was employed as a part-time security monitor and athletic trainer,” the statement said.

‘Mister. Ramirez was immediately terminated as an employee of Downtown Doral Charter Upper School and has NOT been on school campus since the initial report,” the principal added.

“DDCUS continues to work with all law enforcement agencies and is unable to comment further on the investigation.”

According to social media profiles, Ramirez-Martinez is a former high-profile beach volleyball player originally from Cuba.

According to the Beach Volleyball Database, he twice won the gold medal in the men’s competition of the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit.

Ramirez-Martinez is a former high-profile beach volleyball player from Cuba who twice won the gold medal in men’s competition at the NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit

Police Chief Lopez called the allegations extremely disturbing.

“This is someone who bullies students, exploits them, takes advantage of students who are hormonally at a unique age in their lives, deals with the pressures of social media and the pressures of various relationships,” he told the NBC affiliate.

“You’re an authority figure in the school, you’re supposed to be a coach, you’re supposed to be a mentor, you’re supposed to be leading these young men and women into the next phase of life, and you’re taking advantage of them because it doesn’t get any worse for us,” he added.

Ramirez-Martinez was being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Tuesday night in lieu of a $40,000 bond, prison records showed. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had an attorney speaking on his behalf.

Doral Police are asking the public for information on other potential victims in the case.