Tennis coach arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting 2 minors

RICHMOND, Calif. (Debora Villalon) - A prominent youth coach is accused of molesting a teenage tennis player, and police say not for the first time.

Past allegations against 53 year old Normandie Burgos are getting another look, now that Richmond police have arrested him in a new case.

And investigators are urging parents who have hired him, to quiz their sons about his conduct. 

"Well he's a predator, that's for sure," Lt. Felix Tan told KTVU, at the tennis court in Pt. Richmond where Burgos was arrested on Monday.

Burgos thought he was meeting a student but instead waiting detectives cuffed him, capping their 6 month investigation.

"It almost seemed like he knew and he was ready to give up, but he didn't talk to us," said Lt. Tan.

Norm Burgos runs a tennis school, based in Sausalito, called the Burgos Tennis Foundation.

It touts high-performance training, and promises to prepare young players for college tennis and beyond.

But police say Burgos betrayed the trust and confidence of at least two Richmond families, grooming their sons for sex.

The abuse, police say, occurred before, during and after lessons at the Richmond condominium complex where Burgos lives.

The activity, according to the most recent victim, started when he was 14.

At 16, he told his parents.

"He finally did. I don't know what occurred, what happened that broke it, but he finally did, he came forward," said Lt. Tan gratefully.

The other Richmond accuser made his claims against Burgos in 2014, which were found credible by police, but the District Attorney declined to prosecute. 

Seven years ago, Burgos was tried in Marin County for lewd contact and sexual battery on minors.

At the time, he was a physical education teacher at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley.

Boys claimed he had them strip to their boxers, then touched them inappropriately while doing massage or "fat tests."

The jury deadlocked, and Burgos went free, but was never re-hired as tennis coachat Tam, even though parents petitioned for his return.  

"That's the last I heard of it and I know he's been gone for awhile," coach Michael Evans told KTVU, supervising summer practice of his girls basketball team at the high school.

Evans has been at Tam for a few decades, and remembers Burgos and the previous scandal.

"I only know him from being a coach here, seeing him coach, and you don't really know people, unless you really know them," Evans observed, "and with him back in that situation again, and that speaks volumes."

Richmond police are asking Mill Valley P.D. to consider refilling the old cases, considering the newer allegations in Contra Costa County. 

"There are usually more, this is usually skimming the surface of it," observed Richmond Police Lt. Tan.

He urges victims who might be in the shadows, afraid or embarrassed, to come forward.

"Coach violated you and violated your parents trust. And this is a predator, who need to be off the street and we need to do it now," Tan declared.

Norm Burgos is jailed on suspicion of 20 counts of sexual molestation and oral copulation, with bail set at $1.5 million.