The manager of a Lakeland gym met with parents and gymnasts Thursday to discuss the recent arrest of one of their coaches.
Justin Henry, 21, is accused of having sex with a 13-year-old gymnast at her home. The arrest came as a surprise to parents as well as the manager of Elite World Gymnastics where Henry worked.
"Honestly he was a great coach," said manager Andrew Muzzarelli. "He came in. The kids loved him. The parents loved him. He never showed any signs of any sexual assault on any of the other kids. There were never any signs that could have led to what happened."
Before starting the job, the manager said Henry cleared a background check. That was in 2012. Henry was up for another background check later this year.
If it would have happened sooner, Muzzarelli said he would have spotted Henry's first arrest back in April. At that time, Henry was accused of driving three teens to a Clearwater beach and giving them alcohol without their parents permission. Authorities said Henry even put his hand on one of the girl's thighs.
Thursday, Muzzarelli held meetings to reassure parents that nothing like that took place at the gym.
"We have surveillance cameras all throughout the gym, we have a two to one kid ratio so there always has to be two coaches in the gym with a kid so anything like that would ever happen in this gym," said Muzzarelli.
The manager of Elite World Gymnastics said they will be making some changes at the gym.
The manager will start running background checks on their coaches every six months instead of every two years.
Muzzarelli said he also got a restraining order to prevent Henry from coming to Elite World Gymnastics again.