(Wikimedia Commons/Zorro2212)

(Wikimedia Commons/Zorro2212)

California water polo coach charged with molesting 7 girls

Bahram Hojreh faces charges including sexual battery and sexual penetration by foreign object

Prosecutors say a coach has been charged with the sexual abuse of seven girls in a Southern California water polo club.

The Orange County District Attorney’s office announced Wednesday that Bahram Hojreh faces charges including sexual battery and sexual penetration by foreign object of a minor. It wasn’t immediately known if Hojreh has an attorney.

The charges come months after his group, the International Water Polo Club, was removed from using the pool at a military base. Police informed base officials they were investigating allegations involving sexual misconduct against the program’s director.

Hojreh touts himself as a coach for nearly a quarter-century who has “helped develop multiple Olympians.”

He serves on the board for a local chapter of USA Water Polo, the sport’s governing body in the United States.

The Associated Press