Former Canadian national coach Matt Bell pled guilty to sexually exploiting a teen who he met through his former swim club Ajax Swimming where he was the head coach and CEO.
Bell admitted in court today that he’d had sexual contact and exchanged thousands of sexually charged texts with the victim in 2010 and 2011. At that time she was 16, Bell was 30.
The guilty plea was expected, but had been put off several times in court as the case was adjourned.
Bell was up against six charges, and according to durhamregion.com pleaded guilty to two of them.
Prosecutor Taran Boodoosingh told Ontario court Justice John Adamson in an agreed statement of the facts about the conditions of Bell’s relationship with the victim.
Bell’s relationship with the victim turned into one of a sexually nature late in 2010 when he began asking her to stay late after practice sessions. He would massage the victim’s back during those encounters.
From there, Bell began sexting and having phone sex with the victim, requesting nude photographs and asking her to act out sexual scenarios.
Bell met with the victim on two occasions at his condo in Ajax where the visits turned into ones of a physical sexual nature. Bell was cautious to avoid security cameras while with the victim at asked her not to share any information about their relationship to anyone.
Boodoosingh told the court, “He said people wouldn’t understand,” in reference to what Bell told the girl. “He knew it was illegal for him to be involved in a sexual relationship with her.”
The victim came forward in August of 2015 to report the crime. Bell was charged with sexual assault, sexual exploitation, and four counts of luring a person under 18 years in November after an investigation by the Durham Regional Police. Ajax Swimming shut down following Bell’s arrest.
A sentencing for Bell will occur this fall.
The identity of the victim is protected by a publication ban.
This is an ongoing story. To follow along with recent updates click here.
Back in court tomorrow. Sentencing date to be set.
So Is it true that Ajax is back?
Yes, they are. I particularly like how they market the high performance coach as one who worked under the “former” Ajax coach. Certainly, he will be aware of his “techniques” and restore Ajax to it’s glory.
All those going back just prove that that club was some form of cult.
be happy for the kids in Ajax, they have a swim team to swim with! The kids and coaches are not Matt so why put the new club down. I wish them good luck.
I dont understand why you need to comment like this the one you hated is gone. The remaining coaches need to feed their families and earn an honest living too. You are absolutely right about the “techniques” -swimmers hoping what the fallen coach( or disgrace coach I guessed thats what you want to hear) taught them(all about swimming ok?) to be successful swimmers somehow still be incorporated to the training of these remaining coaches.
There are hundreds of Kids in Ajax who had a chance now to swim again aren’t you happy for them?
I am happy that there will be a swim club in Ajax, but I tend to agree that mentioning “mentoring” by the former coach in their sales pitch isn’t exactly reassuring. I would prefer to see them distancing themselves from him, or at least address the issue in some way. Also – this club again appears to be privately owned instead of parent run. I would probably think twice before placing my child back into that type of situation. Good luck to them though.
where the heck you heard about “mentoring by former coach” I’m a privy to their registration/info package there no mentioned or whatever of their former coach.
assuming they said it, what wrong with that? simple analogy -just like you were taught in school by your algebra teacher on techniques on how to solve a problem that works wonder for you. and suddenly the algebra teacher got into trouble, would you forget the techniques you learned from the teacher?
don’t be hypocrite here, theres always good and bad in these world. pick up the good and and a good lesson learned from the bad.
well you are right about the risk of privately owned but remember not all parents have the… Read more »
“Andrew has been with the Ajax club since 1998.
Over these years he was trained and mentored under the direction of our previous head coach.
He has been coaching since 2009 and full time coaching since 2012”
More than a little tone deaf. But then some parents would sell their soul to the devil if it meant getting their kids to Provincials!
You believed in devil plavec? It takes one to know one:) they said….
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5719a30c40261d6de4b46427/t/576a8819197aea94fed3ebd4/1466599456912/Ajax_Elite+%26+Gold+Info.pdf
Our child looked up to Matt for many years while swimming for Ajax. Our child respected, admired and idolized coach Matt.
Over the years, our child would share what happened during practices and some of those stories would raise red flags for us and we questioned Matt’s morals and professional standards. We shared those concerns with our child all along and today we’re not shocked or surprised by his plea.
We are happy for the victim’s victory and we congratulate her for her courage and strength.
It was good to have this site to voice our thoughts and opinions and we thank FOLLOWING THE CASE for taking the time to keep us in the know.
Thanks for sharing. The stories and events before, during and after practice have gone on for years, well before your child swam. As a parent, you were prudent to have these discussions with your swimmer. It’s unimaginable that a coach thinks he can use his influence and guidance over athletes in such poor manners and taste, both physically and verbally. This guy never lived in the real world, with a real job or a real career with real stakes or social or legal consequences. While I cannot speak for all coaches, none of us are surprised that this unfortunate situation occurred nor are we surprised at the plea.
For the safety of our swimmers, it is a good thing… Read more »
As someone who used to swim with Matt at Ajax 20 years ago (when he was a swimmer there), I am also not surprised at all by this. I have talked to others from that time that aren’t surprised by it either. That gives you an idea about how long he has been acting this way.
I am sorry that this had to happen for him to be stopped and I hope that the victim can move on and heal knowing she did the right thing and helped others from having to go through this.
He would have been 15 at that time. Just saying.
Yep he was 15, and I was 12. He was creepy then.
I have to agree with Swim Sham. I was there as well back during those times. Everything about him was creepy. The stories he would tell to the athletes when he was a coach were inappropriate and sexist. I firmly believe that this victim isn’t the first. Just the one who found enough strength to come forward. I hope she finds her piece.
Hindsight is always 20-20.
One has to assume that at 15 there had to have been some parental involvement and oversight from numerous coaches. Where were they when this was going on? Not expecting an answer, just raising the question.
I guess the same place they were when he was giving massages after practice and sexting a 16 year old.
Well it’s not like you can report someone for being a douchebag, or giving off a creepy vibe. And it’s not like his “character” was a huge secret. As a coach he used to say to “stay away from guys like me” in high school because “I treated girls badly” (<< his words). So maybe he was self aware anyway. That doesn’t mean that someone will become a sex offender. Except that it did. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that men who have a history of treating women with respect are probably less likely to sexually exploit them.
I also want to thank FOLLOWING THE CASE for the time she/he took to inform us about this case. Despite the difference of opinions between many of the participants on this forums, I do want you to know that I appreciate the fact that you kept us up to date.
I don’t get why the long wait for sentencing.. Do they really need that much to figure things out?
must be nice to have this big long deadlines to conclude a case…
The defence and the crown will need time to prepare their submissions for sentencing. Each of them have the opportunity to “plead” their case to the Judge. Likely the defence will argue for less jail time and the minimum amount of time on the Sex Offender Registry. Of course the Crown will argue for more time. Their will be Victim Impact Stmt as well as potentially character reference letters from the defence. They may also refer to case law…past similar cases and what their sentences were. Then its up to the Judge.
As for the date being in October…well that could simply be about the Judges availability, defence cousels availability (he has proven he likes to not be available… Read more »
I hope all the Bell supporters read this. All of the people who believed him and that he wasnt guilty. He was 30. He knew it was wrong and he groomed her and manipulated her. Master manipulater. What he did was wrong. And there was SO much documentary evidence that there was NO way of fighting it. He is guilty as sin.
Following the Case, were you the only one in the courtroom again? You might have a second career ahead of you as a Court Reporter Good work!
Solid display name.
I think the premise of innocent until proven guilty gets lost in the social media rush to judgement. I admit that I found it hard to believe at first and part of that is the fact that I trusted him with my kid and thought that I knew him. What I made me think we’re the nature of the charges and the conjecture about who the victim could be.
He has plead guilty, he is guilty of some terrible things and my heart goes out to the young woman and her family. Losing his career, his business, his reputation and hopefully his freedom isn’t enough of a penalty for what he did. But please spare the samcrimonous comments because… Read more »
Well sod.
Said…..not sod.
My comment was not directed at people who initially supported him. The luring charges should have set off alarm bells for everyone. But some continued to believe in him. There have been people in these forums who have been downright nasty to anyone who did not support Bell. I have always thought about the victim in this case and how devastating it must have been for her when she heard through the grapevine how the majority of the Ajax Swimming community felt about her. She has been vindicated. And it is now over for her and I hope she can move on knowing she did the right thing by coming forward.
Equally well said!
I also feel for Julia. Devastating for her. She is a lovely woman.
How is it possible to down vote this post?
same cult like hero worship that you lochte fanboys got going on.
I too was somewhat amused by the number of “thumbs down” I received for simply passing along my thanks to Following the Case. Whether or not you agree with his personal point of view, he took the time not only to attend the hearings, he also was good enough to share the factual circumstance. If it were not for him/her those interested or intrigued in the outcome would have been left in the dark.
No those who wants to know the outcome could of waited until due process was done and it was posted in the credible, mainstream media.
“credible, mainstream media” Isn’t that an oxymoron?