MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A popular Miami Gardens youth track-and-field coach was arrested Sunday on allegations of sexual battery pertaining to a former teenaged female athlete, according to an arrest warrant.
Darius Tremayne Lawshea, coach of Miami Gardens Xpress, was arrested Sunday by Miami Gardens Police at 3:21 p.m. and is facing multiple counts of sexual battery on a minor and of lewd and lascivious molestation on a child between 12 and 16 years old.
The incidents reported on the affidavit by the alleged victim occurred multiple times in 2010, but only recently came to light after Lawshea, 45, was accused of sexual molestation of another minor, according to the report.
According to the arrest warrant, the female who was interviewed by Miami Gardens police said that, in 2010, there were three incidents where she said Lawshea had intercourse with her when she was 14 years old.
The victim said she hadn’t reported the incidents previously because she knew the coach was “loved by everyone in the community and she didn’t want to get in trouble.”
The arrest affidavit said that the now 24-year-old woman came forward after she had learned that Lawshea had recently “sexually molested her little sister, so therefore she knew it was important to finally speak up,” according to the report.
Lawshea is facing two charges, including three counts of sexual battery on a minor and two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation on a child between 12 and 16.
He is being held without bond for the first charge and $7,500 bond each for the two counts in the second charge.
In 2018, Lawshea, or Coach D as he was known, was in the news after a 33-year-old man threatened him with a gun while he was leading a prayer circle with more than 100 of his team after they had returned from a meeting in Orlando.
He later met with parents after the incident to assure them their children were safe in the program.
Miami Gardens Xpress is not affiliated with the city of Miami Gardens and the city said they have no contracts with Lawshea or the youth team.