Eric Olhats, former adviser to Antoine Griezmann and recruiter, was indicted on Thursday for “sexual abuse of minors under the age of 15” and “possession of pornographic images of minors” and placed in pre-trial detention.
He was placed in police custody on Wednesday at the Bayonne police station (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) on suspicion of sexual assault on a minor.
He faces “a 10-year prison sentence, but remains presumed innocent” according to the prosecution.
The alleged facts, which date back to the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, when Eric Olhats was a youth coach in the Aviron Bayonnais football club, “are highly disputed”, said Bayonne public prosecutor Jérôme Bourrier.
The victim would be a player, minor at the time of the facts. A rape complaint was filed in August 2021.
The police custody of Eric Olhats, 59, arrested on Wednesday, was extended Thursday, according to the prosecution. The investigation is being carried out by the judicial police.
Eric Olhats is known to have detected Antoine Griezmann when he was a recruiter at Real Sociedad, the club of San Sebastian (Spain), and that the young 14-year-old player had been rejected by the training centers of French clubs in because of a template deemed too small. He was then the sports adviser to the French international.
In November 2020, Griezmann (104 caps), who is currently playing at Atletico de Madrid, however assured that he “has not spoken (to him) for three years”.