A girls' volleyball coach at Woodrow Wilson High School in El Sereno was fired after officials learned about a lawsuit alleging he had a sexual relationship with a student at a Catholic school, where he resigned under pressure.
Wilson Principal Roberto Antonio Martinez said he terminated Renato "Ray" Lopez Jr., 44, from his coaching position for the Wilson Mules volleyball team after learning of the allegations involving a female student at the coach's prior school, Sacred Heart of Jesus High School in Los Angeles.
Martinez said he was unaware of the allegations until he was contacted by The Times and that he did not know if anyone checked the coach's references with his previous employers. Martinez said Wilson High's athletic director knew Lopez and that the school district had done a criminal background check.
Martinez said that as a non-teaching staff coach, Lopez was never supposed to be alone with his student athletes.
The dismissal comes after a series of recent arrests of Los Angeles Unified School District administrators, coaches and teachers for allegedly molesting students and possessing child pornography.
Details about the latest case came to light in a lawsuit filed by the female student, now 23, in Los Angeles County Superior Court against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Sacred Heart of L.A. In the lawsuit, she states that she was a 17-year-old junior in 2003 when she began the more than year-long sexual relationship with Lopez, who was more than 20 years her senior.
The relationship apparently continued through the girl's senior year when he coached her in volleyball, basketball and softball.
She also worked for him at an El Sereno trophy shop he owns.
Lopez refused to comment on the litigation when contacted at the shop. "I have nothing to say," he said. In his resignation letter to Sacred Heart, he adamantly denied the allegation and said nothing had occurred between him and the girl.
Sacred Heart investigated the allegations after two other female students reported the sexual misconduct to the school in November 2005. Lopez denied it but was placed on administrative leave.
The young woman, who The Times is not identifying because of the nature of the allegation, initially denied the relationship with Lopez, but after further questioning by officials acknowledged the sexual contact.
Lopez was never charged criminally.
