Renowned US water polo coach charged with sexually abusing 7 girls

A renowned water polo coach living in the US state of California has been charged with sexual abuse of seven girls in his sport club, the Orange County District Attorney's office said Wednesday.

Bahram Hojreh, 42, was suspected of sexually assualting seven water polo players, four of whom were 15 years old or younger, between September 2014 and January, according to a statement from the office.

Hojreh faces charges including four felony counts of lewd acts on a child, four counts of sexual penetration of a minor with a foreign object, a lewd act on a child under 14, seven misdemeanor counts of child annoyance and six misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.

Local NBC4 news Channel reported the alleged crimes occurred between 2014 and 2017 against juvenile victims as young as 10 years old during one-on-one coaching sessions.

The charges came months after the International Water Polo Club, a nonprofit organization led by Hojreh, was removed from using the pool at a military base in the county.

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 currently serves on the board of directors for the local Southern California chapter of USA Water Polo, the governing body for water polo in the country.

According to a report of the Orange County Register newspaper, Hojreh was a water polo coach before March 2017 at University High School in Irvine, a city 50 km east of Los Angeles.