Fifth Woman Accuses Gym Coach Of Sex Abuse
DENVER (CBS4)- A fifth woman has come forward saying a Colorado Springs-based gymnastics coach sexually molested her when she was a teenager in Southern California.
"I met Doug Boger when he was coach of the Flairs, the team my sister was on," said Kimberly Vincelli.
Vincelli, now 54, said she spent long hours around the gym, doing homework while Boger was training her younger sister, and other gymnasts.
"In the beginning it wasn't sexual at all," said Vincelli.
But she said Boger- a world renowned gymnastics coach- began making suggestive statements to her at the gym when she was 13 years old and he was in his twenties.
"He said things like, 'I can't wait till you're legal,' almost like he was flirting with you. It felt good," said Vincelli.
She said the flirting turned physical one day when he asked her to accompany him on an errand that began at the gym. She said the errand ended at his apartment.
"I remember being in the bedroom, I don't know how the progression went. He walked up to me, put a hand around my neck, unzipped his pants and put his… in my mouth. It was confusing at best," she now says.
Vincelli joins a growing chorus of women who say Boger, now 63, manipulated them into having sex when they were underage. Boger, who lives in Colorado Springs and plans to again train young female gymnasts, has told CBS4 the accusations are false.
"I was not abusive and did not do anything wrong," said Boger. "The sexual thing is absolutely fabricated. These kids all got together and fabricated this," said Boger, in an interview last year at the CBS4 studios in Denver.
He repeatedly said he never had sex with any girls he coached or any underage women.
But in a 4 On Your Side Investigation broadcast in February, four women detailed Boger manipulating them into having sex with him when he was their gymnastics coach in Pasadena, California in the 1970s. One of the women said she was just 11 years old when Boger began having sexual relations with her.
Vincelli recounted three sexual interactions with Boger. In one, she said Boger again took her to his apartment.
"I just remember at his apartment and being on the bed and he scooted my shorts down and got on top of me," said Vincelli.
She said when she was about 15, Boger had sexual intercourse with her.
Vincelli said at the time, she never told anyone what happened.
"I was confused by it, I was scared. I was afraid my father would find out. It was a secret and it was our secret," said Vincelli.
She said she confided in her sister about ten years ago, telling her what had happened.
But she said she was prompted to speak out after seeing the 4 On Your Side Investigation and other women saying Boger had victimized them.
"It just rang true. Everything they said was everything I experienced. I hope there is an awakening and that people are not so trusting of these coaches," said Vincelli.
- Written by Brian Maass for CBSDenver.com
