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Central Florida Soccer Coach Charged With Molesting Two Players

Posted: 5:21 pm EDT October 27, 2005Updated: 6:54 am EDT October 28, 2005

Deputies busted a Lake County soccer coach on charges he molested two of his players. Parents worry the two girls aren't the only ones.

Steve Oliver

Steve Oliver, 32, was a volunteer for the Lady Lake Soccer Club. He faces 16 counts of assaulting two sisters. According to the arrest report, Oliver told the girls "something bad would happen" if they told anyone about what happened inside his house.

After the girls' mother became suspicious, the girls told a story that will likely trouble a lot of player's parents.

The girls were babysitters at Oliver's home. He'd met them on the soccer field and befriended their mother. She was comfortable with the babysitting, at least as first.

"I started to get suspicious when I saw her on his lap and thought, what is a 30-year-old doing with a 14-year-old on his lap?" the girls' mother said.

The mother said she also saw her girls begin to withdraw.

At a soccer game last Thursday night, the mother finally brought up her suspicions.

"I went up to her and asked her if he had ever, and that was all I had to say, and she broke down and started to cry and said, 'Why me? Why me, mommy? Why me?'" the girls' mother said.

Oliver's home is in Sumter County, so they reported the case to the sheriff's office there.

"The forensic interviewers found them to be very credible witnesses and they did not give contradicting statements," said Capt. Gary Brannen, Sumter Co. Sheriff's Office.

Oliver faces 16 different counts of assaulting the two girls. He was charged with six counts of sexual battery, six counts of lewd and lascivious battery, and four counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of the two 14-year-old girls, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said.

The alleged battery and molestation incidents took place at Oliver's home in Oakland Hills between August 2004 and July 2005, deputies said.

The mother is worried that others might not have stepped forward. She said the coach would have team sleepovers at his home.

"He would have older girls stay over there. The parents all trusted him," the girls' mother said.

The girls are now in counseling and their mother is dreading the day she has to face Oliver in court.

"I don't think he should get off. He needs to pay for what he did. Their life is ruined," she said.

Oliver hasn't answered any questions from deputies.

Also, it needs to be pointed out that this is not a town-run program, but the police chief said Oliver is banned from all Lady Lake parks until it is resolved.

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