| Charles Frey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Name | Charles Frey |
| Profession | Swim coach |
| Gender | Male |
| Notability | Child molester |
| Played by | Drew Waters |
| First appearance | “The Deep End” |
| Latest appearance | “The Deep End” |
Charles Frey is an internationally respected swim coach and a child molester with over a dozen victims.
History[]
Frey coached teens in swimming and won several awards for it, coming to be considered one of the top ten swim coaches in the country. Frey was internationally respected and coached three young men who medaled at the Beijing Olympics and five more who went to the London Olympics. According to Lieutenant Michael Tao, there was four gold medals received by the boys he trained between the two Olympic games
Frey was also secretly a pedophile and child molester. Frey would target kids he was coaching that were particularly vulnerable, bring them home, earn their trust and molest them. The full extent of what the molestation entailed is unknown, but it was incredibly traumatizing to his victims, scarring them for life emotionally.
In 2003, Frey coached and molested Mateo "Matty" Torres. Mateo was a thirteen-year old boy who was a good enough swimmer to potentially go to the Olympics one day. Frey had seen Mateo's potential and was coached by him for over a year. During that time, Mateo fell victim to Frey's molestation which badly affected his personal life. As a result, he started to fail on the swim team and Frey had him cut from the team. At Frey's request, Mateo's parents lied that they were responsible for Mateo leaving the team while Frey's molestation wrecked Mateo's life. Mateo never told anyone that Frey had molested him or the reason for his state of being.
Frey went on to molest over a dozen young boys over the years. One such victim was a boy named Kevin in 2011 after Kevin was rendered vulnerable by the loss of his father.
In 2013, after learning of the truth of his getting kicked off the swim team by Frey, Mateo Torres got drunk and broke into Frey's house to confront him. Mateo beat up Frey before Frey shot and killed him to hide Frey's molestation activities. Frey didn't call 911, but a neighbor heard the scuffle and called for him.
As the police had been called, Frey's plan was to claim that Mateo and his cousin Raymond Suarez had committed a home invasion and attempted robbery. Frey's plan was to claim that Raymond was armed and Mateo was not, but Mateo was the one hit when Frey fired at them.
The Major Crimes Division is called in to investigate the death of Mateo Torres, mainly due to the potential ramifications of a Caucasian man killing a Latino man. After getting out of the hospital, Frey claimed that he didn't recognize Mateo Torres even when Mateo was identified by name to him and showed hesitation to sit down with a sketch artist to help identify the second man Frey claimed had robbed his house with Mateo.
Frey's story began to fall apart soon afterwards when Mateo's parents, after being told of his death, told the Major Crimes squad about Mateo's time being coached by Frey. Frey claimed that he barely remembered Mateo, having only known him as "Matty" and having coached him for eighteen months ten years before. However, after finding Mateo's trophies depicting his name as Mateo Torres, not Matty, Lieutenant Andy Flynn began to suspect Frey was lying since Mateo was a winner and a coach wouldn't forget someone with that level of talent.
Frey's story fell apart completely after Lieutenant Michael Tao and Buzz Watson found a video on Mateo's computer where he used flashcards to describe his molestation by Frey and to identify Frey by name as the one who did it. When confronted, Frey claimed that Mateo was lying and that Frey would never due such a thing.
During the interrogation, Frey slipped up and said that Mateo was the one who broke into his house and attacked him, despite having previously claimed he was attacked by Mateo's partner. Frey quickly claimed that both men attacked him, but Flynn made it clear that they didn't believe Frey's story anymore. Frey tried to claim Mateo's video was an attempt to get back at him for Mateo's belief that he ruined Mateo's life and asked for a lawyer.
When the Major Crimes squad brought what they realized had happened before DDA Emma Rios, she revealed that even if they were right, they couldn't charge Frey with either the molestation or the murder. Even if Frey confessed, the statute of limitations had run out on the molestation while Mateo breaking into Frey's house made it a justifiable homicide either way.
In response, Captain Sharon Raydor issued a press release to the media that they had cleared Frey of rumors of child molestation. The press release caused over a dozen of Frey's victims to come forward with "sad stories to tell" which left no doubt to the police that Frey is "a Grade A pedophile." While most of the victims that came forward were outside of the statute of limitations, a young man named Kevin who Frey had molested two years earlier came forward. With Kevin's testimony alone, DDA Rios promised that Frey could be put in prison for at least ten years with more chargeable cases expected to follow.
Frey agreed to surrender himself at the Police Administration Building accompanied by his lawyer. As Frey headed for the PAB, he was swarmed by reporters shouting questions at him while his lawyer maintained Frey's innocence. As Frey walked towards the building, Mateo's father Albert approached him from the side. Enraged that Frey would not be held accountable for Mateo's murder, Albert shot Frey through the head at point-blank range, killing him. As an officer tried briefly to help Frey, Tao and Provenza arrested an unrepentant Albert Torres for his murder. Detective Amy Sykes was also forced to inform Raymond Suarez, who was completely unaware of anything that had happened or that the police were looking for him, of what Frey did to his cousin and Frey's claims of Suarez breaking into his house with Mateo.
Modus Operandi[]
Frey's known method of operating was to coach a swim team with talented kids. He would then choose vulnerable kids under the age of fourteen with parents that weren't around much. He would get them to trust him over time, take them home and molest them. While the extend of the molestation is unknown, Assistant Chief Russell Taylor noted that some of Frey's victims had some "sad stories to tell" and Frey was called "a Grade A pedophile." According to Kevin, Frey made him undress and did "some real bad stuff" to him. Just attempting to explain what that "real bad stuff" was reduced Kevin to tears. Frey was able to molest over a dozen kids without being caught or even suspected over a number of years. As a result, Frey was a skilled liar and manipulator as seen with his sterling reputation and no one even suspecting the truth about him.
When his secret was threatened by Mateo Torres, Frey resorted to murdering the young man to cover up his crimes. To cover up the murder after a neighbor called the police, Frey claimed that Mateo had come to rob his house with his cousin, Raymond Suarez who was armed while Mateo was not. Frey then used the supposed home invasion and robbery to claim justifiable homicide in the murder while in reality, Suarez was on a camping trip and had no idea about anything that happened until it was over. However, unlike his skill in hiding the truth about the molestations, Frey was not as skilled in lying about the murder. Frey's story had numerous holes such as his claims not to know Mateo Torres, even when asked if he knew the young man by name. As Lieutenant Andy Flynn put it, a coach would never forget someone with Mateo's level of talent so his story didn't add up even before the police discovered the truth.
Known Victims[]
Molestation[]
Molested by Frey while he was their swim coach. Occurred over an unknown period of years up to at least 2011.
- Mateo Torres (2003)
- At least a dozen unnamed boys.
- Kevin (2011)
Murder[]
In order to protect his secret, Frey committed murder as well as molestation.
- Mateo Torres (shot three times in the chest at close range)