KENSINGTON — A 19-year-old former youth soccer coach has been arrested on suspicion of child molestation and child pornography-related charges after a police investigation prompted by complaints from parents of children he coached, authorities said.
Liam Holden, 19, was arrested Wednesday at his Kensington home.
According to a police news release, he was booked at the Martinez Detention Facility on suspicion of annoying or molesting a child under 18, attempting to produce child pornography and enticing a minor. He is being held in lieu of $660,000 bail.
His arrest followed a multi-week investigation done by Kensington police Detective Amit Nath and the Contra Costa County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.
The investigation started after Kensington police received complaints about Holden from several area families who had children on local boys soccer teams in Berkeley, Albany and El Cerrito. Police said in the release that Holden was previously an assistant coach for two different boys soccer teams but did not say which ones.
The news release did not say how many victims there were, their ages or their gender or where the suspected criminal acts occurred.
Authorities did say Kensington police headed the investigation because at least some of the suspected crimes occurred in their city.
A search warrant was served at his home in conjunction with the case, but police did not say what was found.
The police investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Nath at 510-526-4141 extension 310 or email him at anath@kppcsd.org.
