Azusa High School wrestling coach accused of sending explicit messages to minor

Brent Monacelli (Courtesy photo)

An Azusa High School campus safety aide and varsity wrestling coach remains on paid administrative leave after being charged with allegedly sending explicit text messages to a minor, police and district officials said.

Azusa police arrested 31-year-old Brent Monacelli of Azusa on July 20 on a warrant and was released on bond.

Sgt. Tim Harrington said the District Attorney's Office filed one felony count of contacting a minor with intent to conduct certain acts and a misdemeanor count of child annoying against Monacelli and issued a warrant for his arrest on July 15.

The investigation started May 4 when the minor told police about getting text messages from Monacelli, Harrington said. Azusa Unified School District spokeswoman Kathy Miller said she became aware of the situation on May 21, but it was not clear when Monacelli was put on administrative leave.

District policy requires that the employee be put on paid administrative leave until an investigation is resolved or until the person goes to trial, Miller said. Employees are not allowed to return to the campus or have any contact with students while on leave, she said.

School officials did not send out a letter informing parents of the investigation, Miller said, and the school year was over by the time the warrant was issued.

"We

probably will be sending home a letter when school starts, but the victim I believe was a senior, so the seniors would be gone," Miller said. "Members of the wrestling team will definitely be notified but I can't say for sure what will happen" in notifying the rest of the student body and parents.

Monacelli was hired at Azusa Unified in 2008 and had been a campus aide at Azusa Adult School until 2012, when he was transferred to Azusa High, Miller said. The transfer was a matter of seniority amid layoffs at the adult school, she said, not necessarily a request to transfer to the high school.

Before 2012, Monacelli's only reason to be on the high school campus would have been in his capacity as the wrestling coach or on assignment for the adult school, which holds some classes on the high school campus in the evening.

Coaching duties usually are additional assignments distributed among teachers, she said, and Monacelli had been coaching with the wrestling team since 2008, becoming head coach in 2009.

"A new coach has been appointed, so the program will continue without interruption," Miller said.

News of the arrest did not surprise one former wrestler, who said Monacelli would spend a lot of time with some team members outside of practice.

"It was kind of odd, he would be hanging out with kids after school or taking them lunch," 2013 graduate Elijah Morua said. "They would go hang out after practice, or at people's houses with other wrestlers, but I never hung out with that guy.

"He just had a different way of talking to some wrestlers and not others."

Morua, 18, said he had a good relationship with his coach during his freshman and sophomore years, when he was a captain on the varsity team. But he began to butt heads with Monacelli in his junior year, eventually quitting the team. He briefly returned to the team in his senior year before being declared academically ineligible.

"I had problems with the coaching and the way they were doing things," Morua said. "They were sitting down talking to the kids, not even teaching anything, so I was teaching the wrestlers because I've been doing it since I was 6 years old."

Monacelli referred any questions to his attorney Brian Michaels Wednesday afternoon. A call to Michaels was not returned by press time. Officials with the D.A.'s Office said Monacelli will be arraigned Oct. 4 at Pomona Superior Court.

Source: http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_23772558/azusa-high-school-wrestling-coach-accused-sending-explicit?source=rss_viewed

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