HIALEAH GARDENS, Fla. – A former Miami-Dade County assistant basketball coach who was sentenced to probation after several boys accused him of molesting them is now being sued by two of his victims who attended Hialeah Gardens High School.
As part of a plea deal, Javier Cuenca pleaded no contest Oct. 11 to two lesser counts of felony battery and was sentenced to two years of probation.
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Cuenca was fired by the Miami-Dade County School District in 2013 after the allegations from the high school students were made. However, the victims who are suing Cuenca are also suing the Miami-Dade County School Board for failing to "properly investigate Cuenca's background to determine his fitness to be alone with minor students."
The lawsuit also maintains that it was the school board's duty to properly train Cuenca and supervise him to "avoid situations where he would be alone with students."
According to the complaint, Cuenca was an assistant basketball coach at Hialeah Gardens High School between June and July 2013, when he had the players expose their genitals to him, and touched or tried to touch their genitals.
According to an arrest affidavit, Cuenca previously molested a 12-year-old boy at Miami Gardens Middle School in 2010.
Police said he told the victim that he helped other players by providing them with performance-enhancing drugs and offered to give the boy the same. However, Cuenca said he would have to check the boy's penis, which he called a "penis line," to make sure he was ready to take the steroid.
The lawsuit states that the victims suffered "mental anguish, pain and suffering," and seeks in excess of $15,000, not including interest, costs and attorney fees.