A former Camp Verde youth wrestling coach was sentenced to 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple charges of sex crimes against children that were under his mentorship.
On Aug. 4, Dioney Carlos Zavalza-Ceniceros, 28, was sentenced to 17 years in prison by Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Thomas K.Kelly for two counts of attempted sexual conduct with a minor and one count of molestation of a child.
According to court documents, Zavalza-Ceniceros had served as the assistant coach of the New Breed wrestling program in Camp Verde, now known as Camp Verde Wrestling, for three years. He was then approved by the Camp Verde Unified School District Governing Board to act as a volunteer coach in 2018.
The Camp Verde Marshal’s Office first began investigating Zavalza-Ceniceros in March 2018 when a 12-year-old girl, who was a wrestler in the New Breed program, reported he had molested her, Lt. Stephen Butler said. After that, other reports of Zavalza-Ceniceros having inappropriate conduct with girls in the wrestling program were reported.
“After the initial report, there were potentially other victims coming forward to report their contact with the suspect,” he said.
One such girl was reportedly a student-manager on the wrestling team in 2017 when Zavalza-Ceniceros made sexual comments about her and put his hand between her inner thighs during an overnight trip.
Court documents reveal that Zavalza-Ceniceros had been coaching the 12-year-old girl who made the initial molestation report for only three weeks before the incident occurred.
According to the documents, multiple incidents took place the same day in 2018 during a wrestling tournament at the Camp Verde High School Gym. The first incident took place just after the tournament, during which Zavalza-Ceniceros fondled the girl and slapped her backside multiple times.
Later that same day, Zavalza-Ceniceros kissed, fondled and touched the girl inappropriately. He also exposed himself and asked her to touch him, reportedly only stopping the assault “because the plaintiff was crying so hard.”
Once an investigation was underway and charges were brought against him, he fled to Mexico, Butler said.
In January 2020, police received reports that he had been spotted in the Camp Verde area. A task force consisting of officers from the Camp Verde Marshal’s Office, the U.S.Marshals Service, the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office and the Flagstaff Police Department was formed to look for Zavalza-Ceniceros. The task force received a tip that Zavalza-Ceniceros was living with his wife and other family members on the 700 block of Finnie Flat Road in Camp Verde. Officers were able to get confirmation of his whereabouts from his wife.
“After his wife left the residence, officers stopped the vehicle she was driving away from the residence, and she later confirmed that the suspect was currently at the residence in question,” Butler said.
Officers went to the residence and called for Zavalza-Ceniceros to come out and arrested him.
Zavalza-Ceniceros was given 560 days credit for time served and was sentenced to lifetime probation following his release.
