Youth Soccer Coach Arrested Over Abuse Allegations

A Wisconsin youth soccer coach was charged last week with the repeated assault of a child he was coaching.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Daniel Gildea is in custody in Round Rock, Texas after a warrant for his arrest was issued last Wednesday in Dane County, Wisc.

Gildea began abusing a young woman, who is now 18, back in 2012, while was coaching in Oregon, Wisc. The woman had returned from a family ski trip during which she had injured her knee. Gildea was her soccer coach at the time and offered to help rehabilitate the knee in training sessions.

During those one-on-one session, which mostly took place outdoors, Gildea touched the woman inappropriately while helping her stretch her knee and other leg muscles. The inappropriate touching happened during every session, which took place at least once a week.

The woman said that similar incidents happened in the basement of her home in Oregon. The abuse finally stopped when the woman was 13, and she began wearing spandex under her shorts to keep Gildea from touching her.

After speaking with the woman’s parents recently, a Dane County detective filed an affidavit in court. The detective learned that Gildea was a citizen of the United Kingdom who came to the United States through a program that placed British soccer coaches with American teams.

The criminal complaint and arrest warrant were issued to keep Gildea from fleeing the country. Gildea’s most recent job was with the Sting Soccer Club in Texas.

In a statement released last week, Erin Medina, Sting Soccer Club chief operating officer, said Gildea has been fired.

“Sting was informed last evening of a serious situation surrounding Mr. Gildea,” Medina wrote, “and upon learning of the allegations against him and his subsequent arrest, Sting Soccer immediately cut all ties.”