A federal judge sentenced an ex-Bishop Noll Institute boys soccer coach to 17.5 years Wednesday after admitting he once offered a minor $2,000 for a sex act and asked the victim for explicit pictures and videos via social media.
Edin Galvez, now 25, of Griffith, pleaded guilty in March to Soliciting and Enticing the Sex Trafficking of a Minor and Soliciting and Enticing the Production of Child Pornography. After prison, he will serve five years on supervised release and must register as a sex offender.
Messages left with Galvez’s lawyers were not returned.
Investigators appeared to allude that Galvez took advantage of his position as a coach, but it was not immediately clear where the allegations happened. A spokeswoman for U.S. Homeland Security Investigations referred questions to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Ryan Holmes, who declined comment.
Court documents from the U.S. District Court in Hammond allege the crimes happened between November 2021 and May 2022.
Galvez coached at BNI from June to October 2022. School officials learned of “inappropriate” allegations “of a sexual nature” on Dec. 6, after the season was over, Gary Diocese spokeswoman Colleen Rabine said Wednesday afternoon in a statement.
“This information was immediately provided to Hammond Police and the Indiana Department of Child Services. Galvez was not actively employed by BNI on the date of the report because the soccer season had ended several weeks earlier. Galvez was immediately notified that he would not be permitted on BNI property and would not be employed by BNI in the future. A communication was sent to BNI families to inform them of the incident.”
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Clifford Johnson said investigators were tipped off by the public.
“The defendant’s choice to leverage his position of trust as a coach, not to safeguard the minors for whom he was responsible, but to exploit them is nothing short of reprehensible,” U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Chicago Special Agent in Charge Sean Fitzgerald said in a release.
The agency pursued the case with help from Hammond Police and Indiana State Police.
Rabine said BNI Principal Lorenza Jara Pastrick sent a letter to families Wednesday.
“In challenging times, I am thankful that students feel safe to share their concerns with a trusted adult,” said Pastrick in a release. “Our staff is prepared to provide students with support in all circumstances – some of which are hard to imagine, but valuable to know how to respond to when needed.”
A BNI Athletics news release from June 2022 announcing Galvez’s hire appeared to be taken down by Wednesday but was still accessible on the internet archive.
The release noted Galvez founded FUT Elite Soccer, a private training company based in Highland. He “developed players” from Northwest Indiana and the Chicago area. A check of Indiana business license records shows the company was dissolved in November 2022.
It noted he played soccer in college at Purdue University Northwest, where he was named Defensive Player of the Week in March 2021. He had coached soccer for nine years for “various” teams and was “super excited” to start at Bishop Noll.
mcolias@post-trib.com