VANCOUVER -- A former Whitecaps coach has been charged with several sexual offences against four people, according to the B.C. Prosecution Service.
Robert Steven Birarda — known as Bob Birarda — faces six counts of sexual exploitation, two counts of sexual assault and one count of child luring, according to spokesperson Dan McLaughlin.
“The offences are alleged to have generally occurred between January 1, 1988 and March 25, 2008,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
Birarda appeared in North Vancouver provincial court Wednesday for a first appearance, and is expected to return in January.
More than a dozen women who played for the Whitecaps and were part of Canada’s under-20 talent pool around 2008 came forward in 2019 to allege Birarda acted inappropriately with members of the team.
The allegations at the time included rubbing a player’s thigh, sending a player sexual text messages, making lewd comments, and bullying young women who ignored or spoke out against his behaviour.
The players questioned the response of the Whitecaps team to the allegations, and the Whitecaps apologized in 2019 for "the harm that has clearly come to many women who participated in the program at the time.”
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
