A Maryland gymnastics coach is accused of having sex with an underage student several times in 2006 and 2007, Montgomery County police said.
The investigation began in 2020 when a woman told an investigator for the U.S. Center for SafeSport that 40-year-old Mark Samuel Yellock of Northeast D.C. had inappropriate sexual contact with her between 2005 and 2007 when she was a minor, police said.
She said Yellock was her gymnastics coach at Silver Stars Gymnastics in Silver Spring, according to charging documents.
Yellock is accused of sexually abusing the victim between 2005 and 2007, when she was in her early teens, police said. She said between July 2006 and October 2007 her coach told her to have sex with him several times inside of his car in the parking lot outside of the gym. She told police she was unable to say how many times they had sex, according to court documents.
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The gym didn't know of the alleged incidents before being contacted by detectives, police said, and has expressed support for the victim and cooperated with the investigation.
Yellock has coached at other facilities in the area, police said.
Detectives arrested Yellock July 1. He is charged with five counts of sex abuse of a minor, one count of second-degree sex offense and three counts of third-degree sex offense.
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Investigators believe there may be multiple victims. Anyone who believes they are a victim or has information about the case should call police at 240-773-5400.
CORRECTION (Aug. 9, 2021, 2:03 p.m.): This story previously said incidents also took place at Dynamite Gymnastics in Rockville, according to charging documents. Dynamite Gymnastics confirmed the suspect worked there but after the time of the alleged incidents. The location did not open until 2009.
