Dec. 18, 2019 By Allie Griffin
A Woodside soccer coach has been charged with rape and other crimes for sexually abusing four teens — two as young as 13 — and recording some of the abuse on video.
Harrison Torres, 23, allegedly raped and sexually abused a teenage girl and teenage boy on separate occasions in his own home and groped another teenage boy at a Woodside high school over a period of several months last year.
He is also accused of sending videos of himself having sex with two underage teens to another teen boy.
Torres first began the abuse when he brought a teenage girl to his Woodside home and had sex with her sometime between July and October 2018. He then brought a young teenage boy home and sexually abused him between November and December 2018, according to the charges.
Torres allegedly recorded the sex acts on video, which was recovered by the police, according to the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
Torres was a soccer coach with the now-defunct American Eagle Soccer Academy, operated by his father. The academy had rented space at an unnamed Woodside high school on Nov. 7, 2018, when Torres allegedly shoved a 13-year-old boy against a wall at the school and forcibly touched his genitals.
Torres targeted the fourth victim, a 14-year-old boy, and asked him to send him photos of his penis in exchange for cash in February 2019. He allegedly sent the teen his own videos — one showing him having sex with a 14-year-old girl and one showing him having sex with a 13-year-old boy, according to a complaint.
“This case is every parents’ nightmare – a coach gains their trust and then betrays them in the most vile ways to feed his own sick, sexual desires,” acting District Attorney John Ryan said. “This defendant is accused of forcing one boy against a wall and molesting him. The defendant is also alleged to have had both oral, anal and vaginal sex with teen boys and girls in his home and other locations. The defendant will be held accountable for these alleged actions. ”
Torres faces with a slew of charges including first-, second- and third-degree sexual abuse, attempted use of a child in a sexual performance, promoting a sexual performance by a child, second- and third-degree criminal sexual act, third-degree rape, possessing a sexual performance by a child and endangering the welfare of a child, Ryan announced Tuesday.
Torres was awaiting arraignment in Queens Criminal Court Tuesday night and faces between 15 and 50 years in prison if convicted.
