CALEDONIA â âWeâre here to celebrate something pretty cool today,â Gifford School Principal Bret Olson announced to sixth graders. âWeâre here to celebrate Wilfred and his accomplishment of being selected as the grand prize winner â¦â
Principal Bret Olson speaks during a presentation to honor student Wilford Ortiz Tuesday morning. Ortiz was the grand prize winner in the SC Johnson Professional Happy Hands dispenser design contest. Courtesy of SC Johnson Professional
The school, 8332 Northwestern Ave., was visited Tuesday morning by district staff and SC Johnson Professional staff to recognize a Racine student winning the manufacturerâs national Happy Hands dispenser design contest. The contest for K-12 students was meant to promote the importance of hand washing and sanitizing in school.
A former volunteer wrestling coach in Racine has been charged with sexually assaulting and filming high school athletes a decade ago, two of whom have hired a lawyer.
Benigno Bennie Velasquez, 60, of Racine, faces more than two dozen counts, including use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, child enticement, three counts of sexual assault of a child, sixteen counts of capturing images of nudity without consent and six counts of possessing child pornography.
Velasquez is being held on $25,000 bail. His case is set for a preliminary hearing May 13.
According to the criminal complaint:
The case started this year when a user of a dating app contacted Mount Pleasant police. An adult told police he was posing as a 15-year-old on Grindr and that someone was trying to meet up with him for sex. An officer took over the account, posing as the supposed 15-year-old, and set up a meeting with Velasquez.
One assistant coach, the brother of the accused, has been suspended by the Racine Unified School District.
Extensive allegations
Velasquez
Benigno Velasquez, 60, of the 1400 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Racine, has been charged with:
One count of felony use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime
One count of felony child enticement
Three counts of felony sexual assault of a child by a person who works or volunteers with children
15 counts of felony capturing of an image of nudity without consent
Six counts of felony possession of child pornography.
Both a criminal investigation and an internal investigation are ongoing, according to RUSD. Velasquezâs brother, Leonard Velasquez, who is still an assistant wrestling coach at Horlick, has been suspended by district administration.
Former coach charged with sex assault of Racine student-athletes
Former wrestling coach accused of sex assault
A former Horlick High School assistant wrestling coach now faces 27 charges, accused of sexually assaulting and taking nude photos of team members.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. - A former Horlick High School assistant wrestling coach now faces 27 charges, accused of sexually assaulting and taking nude photos of team members.
Mount Pleasant police say 60-year-old Benigno Benny Velasquez was trying to have sex with a 15-year-old boy he d met online who was actually a detective. Once word of that arrest came out, some wrestlers Velasquez coaches nearly a decade ago had a lot more to tell police.