The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that 19-year-old Nicholas Piazza was arrested last week and booked into Vista Detention Facility on charges that included performing lewd acts with a child under 14, committing felony while on bail and contempt of court.
Piazza was arrested Sept. 29, after a boy's mother reached out to Child Welfare Services the day before, according to a news release issued by the sheriff's department. She said her 7-year-old son told her that his swim instructor, Piazza, had sexually assaulted him on two separate occasions during private swim lessons, which took place between Sept. 7-25 in Rancho Santa Fe.
Piazza was employed as an independent swim instructor at the time of his arrest, according to Sgt. Howard Kluge of the San Diego Sheriff’s Office.
A complaint obtained by NBC 7 shows that, in July 2021, Piazza was accused of a similar incident, including performing lewd acts on a child under the age of 14.
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Amy Moreno is a former employee of the Callan Swim School, in San Marcos. She was the general manager until June 2021, when she took a leave of absence that ran till October of that year, then returned as office staff. Moreno told NBC 7 that the incident in July 2021 occurred at Callan Swim School, where Piazza was an instructor.
”I became aware of allegations that a child — that an instructor had touched a child inappropriately and that there was a criminal investigation into that,” Moreno told NBC 7 Thursday.
Moreno was on leave during the time when the incident occurred and heard the allegations after she returned.
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NBC 7 reached out to the swim school for comment on these allegations and was given the following response from their attorney, Yale & Baumgarten LLP, denying any claims that inappropriate behavior toward a child occurred at the school:
“It has come to our attention that a former swim instructor at Callan Swim School was recently charged with a crime. That instructor is not employed by CSS and was not employed by CSS at the time of that alleged incident. We would like to make it clear that, after teaching swimming lessons for over 60 years and being in the business of saving lives, CSS would never knowingly put any student in jeopardy in any capacity. CSS categorically denies any allegations that suggest anything to the contrary” -
NBC 7 reached out to the owner of Callan Swim School for comment, asking about the duration of Piazza’s time as an employee there but did not receive a response. In addition, NBC 7 also reached out to Piazza’s lawyer, but did not receive a response.
