Santos suspend youth academy boss over sexual assault claims

SAO PAULO, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian Serie A giants Santos have suspended their youth academy coordinator over allegations of sexual assault.

Ricardo Marco Crivelli temporarily stood down after former Santos youth player Ruan Petrick Aguiar de Carvalho filed a police report, the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper said on Wednesday.

Aguiar, 19, told police last Friday that the crime occurred in 2010 when he was 11. At the time, Crivelli - known as Lica - worked as a talent scout for the club's academy.

"It was very difficult to reveal all of this," the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper quoted Aguiar as saying. "I was disgusted for a long time. I used marijuana and cocaine and wasn't able to stay at any one club. It's not nice having to tell this story to others."

Santos said they had launched their own probe into the allegations.

"The club is investigating the situation," Santos said in a statement, "We have to consider that he (Crivelli) has had an unblemished career and that these accusations involve reputations that should be preserved without making hasty judgments. The competent authorities will conduct their own investigation." Enditem