SIOUX CITY -- The jury has begun its deliberations in the Abdier Marrero trial.
The case against comes down to his intent, Woodbury County Attorney James Loomis said in his closing argument to the jury. Was Marrero slapping girls on the butt and commenting about their body to arouse or satisfy his sexual desires? Loomis said there could be no other explanation.
"When guys are looking at female body parts, what's the reason? It's about sexual desire," Loomis said. "He was touching these girls to arouse or satisfy his sexual desires, there's really no other explanation for it."
Defense attorney Patrick Parry told jurors no evidence had been presented to show Marrero's behavior was sexually related. None of the seven girls who testified said they observed him to be aroused when touching them, and he had no sexual contact with any of them.
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"Not a single witness said he tried to set up a meeting with them, make a pass at them, tried to kiss them," Parry said. "What's been pretty obvious is the defendant had some inappropriate boundaries."
In his final words to the jury, Loomis asked them to follow the advice he gives his own children that words and actions have consequences.
"This defendant needs to be held accountable for his words and actions," Loomis said.
SIOUX CITY — In retrospect, Abdier Marrero said, he realizes some of the comments he made to female cross country runners he coached were inappropriate, and he wouldn't say those things today.
Many of the comments were made jokingly, he said, and none of the girls ever told him they were uncomfortable around him.
"I didn't think that what I was doing was going to get looked at in this manner," Marrero testified Friday.
Marrero, 41, a former Sioux City North High cross country and track coach and guidance counselor, is charged in Woodbury County District Court 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 them on the butt and made comments to them about their bodies from 2018 through 2021. He was arrested in July 2022 and has pleaded not guilty.
Marrero said he often slapped his athletes -- girls and boys -- on the butt as a way to congratulate them after a good run or motivate them. He said many of his coaches in high school and college did the same thing, and he never considered it to have sexual meaning.
"Did you ever do it with the intention to arouse yourself for some further sexual purpose?" his attorney, Patrick Parry, asked him.
"No," Marrero said.
Marrero denied sending sexually explicit text messages to one of the girls, who has testified he slapped her butt in practice and in his guidance office, where she alleged he summoned her frequently. The two had a running joke about him being her husband because she said she wanted to be a doctor with a stay at home husband. At one point, Marrero texted her "wait until our wedding night," a comment he admitted can have sexual meanings.
"I was just trying to get her to laugh," he said. "I shouldn't have even started it."
"Were you ever trying to start a relationship with her beyond coach and athlete or guidance counselor and student?" Parry asked him.
"No," Marrero said.
He denied the girl's testimony that he grabbed her butt nearly every time she visited his office, but said he probably slapped it sometimes. He said he did not recall her telling him she didn't like the physical contact and was unaware that his actions were making any of the girls uncomfortable.
Seven girls have testified during the trial's first two days, and most were in court as Marrero was questioned. The Journal is not identifying the girls, though they have been addressed by name during their testimony.
One of the girls reported his conduct to another coach in early December 2021, at which time the Sioux City Community School District launched a preliminary investigation into Marrero's actions. It was the first time the district had received complaints about him, the district's human resources director, Jennifer Gomez, testified Friday.
She and three other administrators met twice with Marrero, who was hired as a coach in 2007 and a guidance counselor in 2020, after receiving the complaint and interviewing other girls. In their first meeting with Marrero, Gomez said he appeared surprised by the allegations, which he denied. He was placed on paid administrative leave.
Thirteen girls were interviewed by the time administrators met with Marrero four days after their first interview. Gomez said they informed Marrero, who admitted during the meeting he had slapped athletes on the butt and made comments about them, the case would be forwarded to the district's Title IX coordinator and they would recommend he be fired. Instead, Marrero resigned, signing a resignation letter provided to him by administration.
"Signing that resignation letter was one of the hardest things I've ever done," Marrero said, adding that he never received a copy of the initial student complaint and never received a full explanation of the allegations from district administrators.
After Marrero resigned, Gomez said, the district closed the preliminary investigation because Marrero was no longer an employee and turned the matter over to police.