Teen Athletes Arrested on Suspicion of Sex Crimes

Two Vista Murrieta High School football players have been arrested on suspicion of sex crimes in an investigation that involves six underage girls, authorities said.

Kishawn Tre Holmes, 17, was charged Monday, Sept. 16, with two counts of forcible rape involving two victims, two counts of lewd acts with a girl under 14, and three counts of false imprisonment involving three additional victims, as well as one count of dissuading a victim from reporting a crime, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney's office.

Byron K. Holt Jr., 17, also is facing "sex-related charges" but the law does not require authorities to release as much detail about his case because of the specific counts filed against him, Hall said.

Both teens were arrested Thursday, Sept. 12, and booked into Southwest Juvenile Hall in French Valley. Neither has been playing with the football team since around the time Murrieta police said the investigation began, on Aug. 29.

Police said the accusers were all students in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District but that the sexual assaults did not occur on the Vista Murrieta campus. Police disclosed no other details about the alleged crimes.

Hall said the incidents involving Holmes date back to 2012. The most recent incident was in August, he said.

Holmes is scheduled for a hearing in juvenile court Tuesday morning, Hall said. The charges against him require that the hearing be open to the public.

The juvenile court proceedings involving Holt - including the outcome of the case - will be confidential, Hall said.

Karen Parris, spokeswoman for the Murrieta Valley Unified School District, said school administrators initially received information about the allegations, which they later turned over to police.

"We were shocked and disappointed to learn about the charges," she said.

Parris said she could not disclose any information about the students involved, adding that the district is cooperating with the investigation.

Vista Murrieta Broncos head coach Coley Candaele confirmed by phone that Holmes and Holt are no longer members of the football team.

Holmes, a senior, had been a star running back on the nationally ranked team.

Listed at 5-foot-8-inches tall and 170 pounds, Holmes was one of the Inland area's top returning running backs. He was a second-team all-Southwestern League last year after rushing for 1,109 yards and 10 touchdowns on a 13-1 team that lost to Corona Centennial in the CIF-Southern Section Inland Division championship game in December.

He had not practiced with the team since late August, Candaele said, and did not play in Vista Murrieta's first two games or an Aug. 29 scrimmage.

Before the team's season opener against Downey, Holmes said he was not playing because of a shoulder injury. Candaele later said Holmes' status for that game was not injury-related.

Holt, listed as a 5-foot-9, 210-pound defensive lineman, was on the varsity roster as a junior but did not have any statistics. Candaele said Holt "removed himself from the team" at the end of August.

"He decided he wasn't going to play anymore," Candaele said. "That was his decision to leave."

Contributing to this report: Staff writer Jeffrey Parenti, [email protected]

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