SIOUX CITY — During her senior year, a former Sioux City North High School student was called almost daily to her guidance counselor's office, where she said he put his hand down her shirt and grabbed her breast on one occasion and touched her inner thigh, buttocks and her hip during three separate visits.
The girl said Abdier Marrero often flirted with her, and after numerous comments from him about how nice she looked in tight clothing, she began wearing baggy sweatshirts so he wouldn't look at her breasts.
She perceived other comments to be more sexual, though she said he never asked her to have sex with him.
"He said once you turn 18, we can be together," the girl said.
A former North High cross county and track coach and counselor, Marrero, 41, is charged with one count of sexual exploitation by a school employee. He resigned in December 2021 after girls on the cross country team reported to school officials he had slapped many of the female runners on the butt and made comments to them about their bodies from 2018 through 2021.
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During the opening day of his trial Wednesday, four of his former runners, all of whom have since graduated from high school, testified that his behavior had become so ordinary, it was accepted as part of the team's culture.
"It became normalized for some of the girls because they went through it more," one of the girls said.
The Journal is not identifying the girls by name, though they are being addressed by name in court.
Three of the four former runners said they saw Marrero slap other girls on the butt and heard him make comments to them. One of the girls said he slapped her butt at least 30 times during her three years on the team and often made remarks about her butt or her abdominal muscles.
"I just kind of thought it was a joke," the girl said of her reaction to the first time it happened. "I'd seen it done before. I thought it was kind of playful or whatever."
By her senior season, the girl said she distanced herself from Marrero as much as possible during practices.
"A lot of us girls were uncomfortable around him," she said.
One of the girls testified Marrero slapped her on the butt at least three times, the first time at the conclusion of a meeting in his counseling office during her junior year.
"I was getting up to leave and then he slapped my butt. It felt like it kind of lingered," she said.
The girl said that as a senior, Marrero asked her if she was sexually active with her boyfriend because her running times were slower. She said he told her sexual activity could affect performance. She believed him because he was her coach, she said.
"I trusted him," she said.
Marrero had coached at North since 2007 and became the head cross country coach in 2012. He was arrested in July 2022.
The girl who alleged Marrero touched her breast said he would slide his chair next to her during their meetings in his office so they were sitting shoulder to shoulder. Marrero touched her only those four times, she said, and she never told anyone about his behavior.
"I didn't want to go through the whole process. I just wanted to move on with my life," she said.
She came forward in May or June 2022, more than two years after her graduation, after hearing other girls had reported Marrero to the school. Defense attorney Patrick Parry challenged her statements, pointing out discrepancies between her testimony during a deposition seven months ago and Wednesday's testimony concerning what she was wearing the day she said Marrero touched her breast and whether he touched her over her bra or had skin to skin contact. She could not recall which hand Marrero had touched her with and seemed confused briefly when recalling which of her breasts he touched.
During questioning from Parry, all the girls said Marrero never made a pass as them, attempted to kiss them or set up private meetings with them. The runners never mentioned his behavior in anonymous postseason team surveys from the school.
In his opening statement to jurors, Parry said the prosecution must prove Marrero's conduct was done for his own sexual gratification.
"There's not going to be any evidence of that," Parry said.
He asked each girl if Marrero ever seemed aroused when he touched them or others.
"Did he appear to be aroused at that point?" Parry asked one of the girls who said Marrero touched her.
"I don't believe so," the girl said.
Woodbury County Attorney James Loomis in his opening statement said Marrero made comments to girls about becoming their future husband and saving themselves for him on their wedding night. Marrero violated the trust parents have in teachers and coaches and also among the athletes who trusted him to do the right thing.
"Abdier Marrero did not do the right thing," Loomis said.
At last two more girls are expected to testify at trial, which will resume Thursday. If found guilty, Marrero could face up to five years in prison.