High school coach suspected of having sex with students

"The girl has seemed to be in love with me since she joined our school two years ago, but I have not had an affair with her."

Coach Mai

A Hualien senior high school volleyball coach faces criminal investigation after staying in the same room with female students at love hotels on trips to attend out-of-town volleyball competitions.

The head prosecutor of the Hualien District Prosecutors' Office, Cheng Wen-kuei (鄭文貴), told reporters yesterday that an investigation was underway into whether the coach had had sex with the girls, which would be a violation of the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act (兒童及少年性交易防制條例).

Cheng having sex with teenagers under 16 years of age would lead to a maximum sentence of three-years.

Hualien County councilor Wang Yen-mei (王燕美), who received complaints from the girls' families, told reporters yesterday that the coach, surnamed Mai, had on several occasions over the past two years taken three female students to stay in hotels with him on their trips to compete in volleyball matches.

On each occasion, the coach arrived with the girls at the hotels one or two days before the rest of the volleyball team arrived in the town where they were competing.

Wang she would not name the school and the coach to protect the girls.

She said Mai and a female student had stayed in a room at a love hotel in Kaohsiung in January while two other girls stayed in another room at the hotel.

The councilor said the coach was believed to be having an affair with the girl who stayed in his room at that hotel.

Wang the rooms they had stayed in at the Kaohsiung hotel were full of erotic decorations.

One the girls later posted on the Internet more than 60 photographs taken in the hotel room, Wang said.

In the photos, the girls wore handcuffs and were in a small cage.

The coach yesterday gave an interview to TV news station TVBS, in which he said he had to share a room with female students because the volleyball team was short of money.

"I slept on the floor and the girl slept on the bed," he said.

He denied having had sex with the girl whose room he shared in Kaohsiung.

"The girl has seemed to be in love with me since she joined our school two years ago, but I have not had an affair with her," the coach said.