A volunteer football coach at Long Beach Poly High School was wanted in Texas on charges he sexually assaulted a child, according to authorities.
He’d managed to evade arrest for six years until he was arrested earlier this month, according to the Austin County Sheriff’s Office.
Romeo Robinson, 33, was booked on charges of aggravated sexual assault and failing to appear in court after posting bail, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities did not provide details on Robinson’s alleged crime, but they said he became a fugitive when he fled Texas in 2017.
Eventually, authorities tracked him to Long Beach, where, according to his LinkedIn profile, he got a job coaching football for 8-year-olds before starting to coach at Poly in 2018.
A spokesperson for the Long Beach Unified School District said that when they learned about the charges, the district discharged Robinson from campus “out of an abundance of caution and in alignment with our Code of Conduct.”
“The Long Beach Unified School District takes seriously any allegations of inappropriate conduct with minors and cooperates with law enforcement on such investigations,” the LBUSD said in a statement. “Student safety is our highest priority.”
In addition, LBUSD officials said they were unaware of Robinson acting inappropriately with any students at Poly High School.
LBUSD officials did not respond to questions asking how Robinson was allowed to volunteer at the high school.
Following his arrest, Robinson was transported back to a federal correction facility in Texas before being returned to Austin County Jail, authorities said.