SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio cheer coach is behind bars after being accused of sexually assaulting his former student, officials said Friday.
According to an arrest affidavit, Robert Thomas Kotara, 33, sexually assaulted one of his students when she was 16 years old. The victim is now 18 years old, but Kotara had been her cheer coach since she was 10 years old, the document stated.
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Documents allege Kotara asked the victim to help him with the younger children at a lock-in at the gym. When the victim arrived, Kotara allegedly asked her to run an errand with him.
Kotara is accused of taking the victim to a nearby hotel and providing her with alcohol. The affidavit states the victim remembers Kotara on top of her, having sex with her, and that it became a regular occurrence.
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The affidavit also states another incident happened when Kotara asked the victim to babysit his child when he went to work. However, instead of going to work, officials said Kotara had sex with the victim while his child was playing on the floor in the same room.
Officials said the victim has tried to end all contact with Kotara, including changing her phone number, but he continues to contact her daily through email.
According to another arrest affidavit, Kotara is also wanted for several burglaries. He reportedly burglarized Alamo City Vipers Cheer during the weekend of Aug. 10–12.
Officials said Kotara was the last person to leave the building overnight of Aug. 10 at 12:01 a.m. A suspect vehicle was captured on surveillance video arriving at the security gate, documents say. The driver allegedly entered the gate using a security code and entered the code for a locked entry door.
The suspects entered the building, from which the property was stolen, per the arrest affidavit.
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Alamo City Vipers Cheer employees reported the burglary and officials said they immediately suspected Kotara had committed the crime, due to other gyms previously claiming he had stolen from them in the past as well.
One of the employees drove to Kotara’s secondary employer business and as she passed it, she told officials she saw the stolen fans from Alamo City Vipers.
On Aug. 29, a search warrant was obtained by officials and they received consent from the business owner of Kotara’s secondary employer. A search was conducted and the stolen property was reportedly found.
Kotara was working at the time of the search and officials said he immediately left when police arrived. He then returned 20 minutes later, allegedly claiming the fans belonged to him.
The secondary employer told officials Kotara offered to sell him cooler fans for his business and they agreed on a price of $1,100 for the two fans, according to the arrest affidavit.
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On Aug. 11, Kotara arrived at the business with the alleged stolen property in the bed of his crew cab truck.
The business owner only saw one of the two fans and officials said he asked Kotara where the second fan was.
Kotara told the owner he was only able to get one fan, so he was paid $550, per the arrest affidavit.
Officials said the business owner claimed he had no idea the property was stolen and was cooperative throughout the investigation.
Kotara is also charged with burglary of a building.