Judge sets bail for former gynmastics coach accused of lewdness

A former gymnastics coach accused of groping two children appeared in court where a judge set his bail at $40,000 Thursday morning and ordered him to have no contact with children if he is released.

Defense attorney Craig Hendricks questioned the merits of the evidence against Michael Nestor, 21.

Hendricks noted that Nestor has no prior criminal history and spoke with Metropolitan Police Department investigators without an attorney after they sought to question him about the allegations.

“He went in and said absolutely, ‘I did not do those things,’” Hendricks told Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan. “That is real, real clear. He did not make any admissions to doing anything wrong. He fully cooperated.”

Nestor is charged with two counts each of first-degree kidnapping of a minor and two counts of lewdness with a child under 14.

Nestor was arrested after police said two boys who attend the Go For It USA gymnastics studio, located near North Rancho Drive and West Craig Road, accused him of squeezing their buttocks at the facility. Nestor has since been fired. Go For It USA said in a statement it has “zero tolerance for inappropriate, unsafe or abusive conduct.”

Police said a child told investigators Nestor gave the boy a lollipop in the studio’s restroom after Nestor offered it to him if the boy washed his hands while at gymnastics camp on June 17. While the boy licked the lollipop, Nestor “crouched down and squeezed and slapped his butt lightly over his clothes,” according to a police report.

The boy told police Nestor touched his butt for about 10 seconds.

The child said he hid in a bathroom stall but struggled to leave because Nestor was blocking his exit, police said.

The boy eventually ran out of the restroom, then told his sister and friend about the incident, and his friend said it happened to him, too, according to police. The second child told an interviewer that Nestor had squeezed his buttocks while he was washing his hands. He said Nestor stopped touching him when another person walked into the bathroom, according to the report.

A 2021 child protective services report against Nestor alleged he had touched a friend’s genitals when he was 16, according to the report. Nestor told police the incident was “determined to be boys exploring.”

In court Thursday, Chief Deputy District Attorney Megan Thompson asked for a $350,000 bail. She described the allegations against Nestor as “extremely troubling.”

“We have two minor victims, similar MOs,” she said, referencing the Latin phrase modus operandi, or method of operation.

Video surveillance, Thompson said, shows the first boy and Nestor entering the restroom around the same time. Thompson said the video also shows the boy running out of the restroom.

Nestor was adamant in a police interview that he did nothing wrong, saying he was shocked by the allegations. He said one of the children had behavioral issues and was disrespectful and that the boy’s mother did not like the way he coached.

He confirmed he was in a facility bathroom at the same time of one of his accusers, and that he did possess a lolipop, but he said he’d gone into the bathroom because he had an upset stomach and that the lolipop was helping to soothe the ailment.

Hendricks questioned the accuracy of the accusers’ accounts.

“When these allegations came up and they were talking with the alleged victim’s father you know what he said?” Hendricks said. “He figured his kid exaggerated because he tends to do that.”

Hendricks said the second accuser’s mother initially “dismissed his disclosure, assumed he was mistaken and did not believe it happened.”

In setting the bail, Sullivan noted Nestor’s lack of a criminal history and his ability to stay with his parents in Las Vegas pending the outcome of his case.

“I do not believe this is a case where a detention order is necessary,” Sullivan said.

She added the charges are serious and that a monetary bail needed to be set. She also ordered Nestor to surrender his passport, have no contact with children, to live with his parents, and to be under high-level electronic monitoring.

Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com.