Mitchell Bentz, a former swim coach in Orange Park, Florida, turned himself in and admitted to sending an underage girl lewd pictures and messages.
Bentz was previously a part-time swim coach at St. Johns Country Day School in Orange Park. Orange Park is just south of Jacksonville in northeastern Florida.
Action News Jax reports that Bentz allegedly tried to lure a 17-year-old girl to have sex and allegedly sent her lewd pictures and messages. Bentz met the girl at a local grocery store and communicated with her on Snapchat, according to the arrest report.
The 24-year-old Bentz was arrested on felony charges related to exploiting a child, according to an earlier Action News Jax report. In a statement to parents, St. Johns Country Day School said that to the best of its knowledge, none of its students or swimmers were targeted by Bentz.
Action News reports that Bentz “turned himself in and admitted what he did was wrong and illegal.” He was released the next day and will wear a GPS monitor while his case moves through the legal system. Per another report by the First Coast News, Bentz is charged with one count of using a computer to seduce, solicit or lure a child, and one count of transmission of material harmful to a minor by an electronic device.
Update: as of June 2021, Bentz has been added to the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s database of disciplinary actions. Bentz is listed as “ineligible,” which typically means he is banned indefinitely, but the window for an appeal remains open.
Hopefully it’s addressed. A couple of years ago I attempted to report a USA swimming official for inappropriate behavior (which his home club was ignoring) and the only answer I got from USA swimming was “you need to report it to his home club”. Kind of concerning to me, as I feel we should be doing everything to protect our children.
If I were you, I’d just call Attorneys Robert Allard (San Jose, Ca) or Jon Little (Indianapolis, In) directly. USA Swimming and Safesport are very arbitrary in who they go after based on who they are (political standing, “good ol boy” status, etc.). For example the conduct of coaches Murray Stephens and Richard Shoulberg is worse than 75% of the people on the banned list, but they skated because of their notoriety and status as USA Swimming board members. If it wasn’t for Allard and Little, half of the people on the banned list wouldn’t be there. They are the police of USA Swimming.
Was he wearing Speedos ?