A golf coach in the Tri-Valley area has been arrested on suspicion of eight felony counts of sexually assaulting multiple female minors, an Alameda County sheriff's spokesman said Thursday.
A golf coach in the Tri-Valley area has been arrested on suspicion of eight felony counts of sexually assaulting multiple female minors, an Alameda County sheriff’s spokesman said Thursday.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said Ki “Kenny” Kim, 52, is a longtime golf coach based out of the former Country Drives Golf Center in Sunol who also taught at various other golf facilities throughout the Bay Area.
Kelly said the child victims were all golf students of Kim, and the sheriff’s Special Victims Unit believes there may be more child victims who haven’t yet come forward.
Kelly said the sheriff’s office encourages families of other potential victims to call Detective Patrick Dolan at (510) 225-5831.
Court records indicate that Kim hasn’t yet been charged in connection with the recent allegations, but that he was charged last year for the ongoing sexual abuse of a minor in 2016.
Kim is tentatively scheduled to be arraigned on the new allegations in Alameda County Superior Court in Dublin Friday afternoon.
At the end of a preliminary hearing on March 15, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Paul Delucchi ordered Kim to stand trial on the charge that was filed last year.
Kim is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of a combined $1.35 million in bail on the two cases he faces.
Dublin police Capt. Nate Schmidt said Ki Kim is not the same person as Kwangson “Sonny” Kim, another Tri-Valley golf instructor who also was 52 when he was arrested on Feb. 14 on suspicion of the ongoing sexual abuse of a minor.
Kwangson Kim is a longtime private golf coach in the Tri-Valley and was head of the Sonny Kim Golf Academy.
Schmidt said the abuse in that case is alleged to have occurred over a three-year time period, staring when the young girl was 12 years old and continuing until her current age of 15.
On May 10 the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office charged Kwangson Kim with one count of the ongoing sexual abuse of a minor, six counts of lewd acts on a child and one count of sexual penetration of a foreign object.
Kwangson Kim pleaded not guilty on May 31 and currently is free on bail while he awaits further proceedings in his case.
The website for the Sonny Kim Golf Academy says it’s “specially-designed junior clinics accept young, budding golfers aged from 5 to 18.”
The website also says, “These clinics are specifically designed to train junior golfers to compete in tournaments from local to national golf associations. Sonny Kim Golf Academy will help junior golfers achieve their full potential.”
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