Matt Bell, a member of Canada’s 2015 Junior World Championships coaching staff, has been arrested and charged with sexual assault and luring of a minor.
Bell is the high performance coach and CEO of Ajax Aquatic Club in Ajax, Ontario. He put an Ajax athlete onto Canada’s Junior World Championships team this past summer and was selected as a coach for that team at the meet in Singapore.
The Durham Regional Police report that the 35-year-old Bell was arrested Tuesday for an alleged sexual assault from 2011.
DRP reports that the accuser, who was a teenage girl, reported the sexual assault, leading to an investigation being launched by the DRPS Sexual Assault Unite. The alleged victim was a member of the Ajax Swimming club where Bell coached.
Bell will be hit with three different charges:
- Sexual Assault
- Sexual Exploitation
- Luring a Person Under 18 Years
Based on the DRP report, it appears he will be charged with one count each of sexual assault and sexual exploitation along with four counts of the luring a person under 18 years charge (which is listed with “x4” after it in the report).
Does anyone know how Matt is doing?
who cares
I do!!! I know he had another court appearance yesterday (May 9th) so hope it went well
I hear he is pleading guilty in the coming weeks.
Oh my… thats hard to swallow… I wish i can contact him…
By any chance do you happen to know what is he facing??? Jail time?? Fine??
Oh he is going to jail. I would imagine he will also be on the Sex Offender Registry as well…minimum 10 years. There is no such thing as a fine for such serious charges. If anyone wants to listen to the evidence in the case just go to the sentencing hearing. I suspect its overwhelming if he is pleading guilty.
Thank you for letting us know, very much appreciate it. Very sad situation for everyone involved. Do you know when is the sentencing hearing date? Thank you again!
Next court session July 25.
Another pre trial meeting March 11. 9:00 am room 106.
Next court date April 7th. Continuation of Pre Trial
Ok thank you! Looking forward to know how he does at that third pre trial. His ex swimmers, regardless of where they are swimming, are all doing very well. #toughkids.
Any news? How is his case progressing?
I recommend you read the book The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan. In fact I recommend anything by Carl Sagan, however this book and in particular Chapter 9: Therapy, is very pertinent to this discussion and in particular to those who would assume that these types of allegations are an automatic indication of wrongdoing.
A pdf of the book can be found here. http://www.boerenlandvogels.nl/sites/default/files/demonhauntedworld.pdf
Come on SwimGuy, if you’ve actually read and understood Sagan’s writing you will recognize that any connection to situations like this is only in your ability to connect them through logical fallacy.
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/
Does anybody knows anything new about Matt?
My understanding is that the local Media is not even sending a reporter to the court appearances. The only way to find out any information is to actually find the court appearances and go to court. Or contact Metromedia Durham Region and press them for information. If enough people do that they may update the story. These cases can go on for years so this will be a long process.
I heard he had a court appearance today, February 1st, to set a trial date. Has anyone heard any details?
I have emailed metromedia durham region couple of times and no answer.. I also learned about that court appearance but nothing about how it went.. I hope somebody else can fill us in on whats going on… or any other advice as to who else we can contact for more information…
Mar 4th is next court date. It is for a pretrial. Basically a meeting between the crown, defence, detective, in front of a judge to discuss the case, evidence, etc. Then select a trial date.
Thank you ex swimmer. Will you be able to share with us how to find out about his case? It’s difficult to find information and many of us are interested on how things are progressing.
Duly noted..I will shut my trap. And I’m not sure who you think I am but I did leave Ajax some time ago. I did make that choice.
Thanks SWIM PARENT for the enlightenment. It was a master plan by a master manipulator, with his veiled threats of lawsuits etc.
BTW…wasn’t the whole board of directors acclaimed that year?
Thank you Swim Dad 2. I cannot remember whether they were acclaimed or not. But it wouldnt surprise me. Interestingly on another swim swam article there is a comment from Jan 6th 2016 from a Swim Dad who was at a university meet in November 2015 and his daughter disclosed to him that Matt encouraged the male swimmers to grope the female swimmers. His daughter included. I can tell you that with his most recent team one superstar male swimmer in particular liked to slap all the girls asses. This behaviour was never stopped. As that Swim Dad put it….for all you non believers out there…ones who dont think Matt is capable of such horrible things….think again…
Swim parent, it is very obvious to everyone in the ajax community who you are, stop hiding behind a keyboard and talk to us all face to face. You didn’t have anything to say while Matt was in power so shut your trap now. We are all tired of hearing your accusations, as they are blown way out of proportion, and if you were THAT unhappy with Ajax, nothing was stopping you from leaving sooner, so stop now before you embarrass yourself and loose more friends than you already have.
The only “parents” that are “embarrassing” themselves are the one’s that Blindly support a Coach that has a History , a negative history. Granted you would say that is all “accusations”.
The Current FACTS are that he has been charged with several offences. Including 4 counts of luring. And if those 4 counts have to do with possible e-mails between a child and this coach that support the charges then he has a big problem and it goes beyond “accusations”.
The one question I would ask all you Bell Supporters is why he did not Plead Right away Not Guilty like the Whitby coach?
If Bell and his Lawyer need time to look over what the Crown has. Then the… Read more »
Swim Dad: Just want to clarify a couple of things regarding your statement of how Ajax Aquatic Club became Ajax Swimming:
“To Bo – Parents didn’t hand him control, the Board of the Non-Profit “Ajax Aquatic Club” had the finances messed up to the point where the club was going to go bankrupt. Matt – who was an employee – bought the assets, assumed a massive amount of the debt and turned the club around.”
1. Matt Bell was not just an employee. He was a member of the Board the year that the club went private in his name. In fact he had been a member of the Board for several years. He was well aware of the… Read more »
Was it even legal to allow an employee on the board before he made the switch? I am not familiar with the Ontario Societies Act so maybe someone can enlighten us. It looks like many of the top kids have moved to Markham AC.
As one of Darrens former team mates I will attest to his eye for talent. He swam with many of the best in L.A., Calgary and on the National Team. He is not perfect but I think he has some wisdom to share when it comes to swimming. Its been close to 20 years since I last saw him but I shared a lane for the better part on a year and learned a lot… Read more »
He was the head coach at the time and sat in on every Board meeting. He had a LOT of control. There was a LOT of stuff that was done that last year that was not right and it was ALL lead by Matt Bell. The President of the Board was not even in the country for the majority of the year. Matt Bell was in charge.
Not all of Matts swimmers have gone to MAC. A number of them have gone to Swim Ontario’s Academy coached by Andi Manley.
Swim Ontario’s Academy coached by Andi Manley has now 7 swimmers, including 4 from former Ajax swimming…
Actually it has 6 ex Ajax swimmers and 2 swimmers who swim for UofT. More Ajax swimmers have come over. Not sure who or where you are getting your info from. So out of 17 HP kids in Ajax 11 are with Markham and 6 with the Academy.
All the provincial and slower swimmers went to academy, I believe their best swimmer has around 3 national cuts at best, while the rest were the slower half of the highest group in ajax. While the national qualifiers and record holders went to the Markham Aquatic Club, says something about the academy doesn’t it?
The youngest children mostly went to NYAC
But it is clear that these families know something we do not, as only the slow kids went to the academy, while the fast ones went to Markham
It so unfortunate that the names of the kids especially the new members of Ajax who dont have any idea behind the politics why some decided to shy away with OSA were being dragged between warring comments of obvious Ajax parents. @The Truth your comments of “they sucked” its uncalled for. And its not good you said parents( i think it is -only one)@Ex-swimmer or aka Swim parent it was your own doing or too much talking why your in such situation right now. Accept not all swimmers can be an olympian. Be thankful yours should be in NCAA.
In fairness to Pene she wasn’t almost out touched by Hannah(not yet)(no disrespect to Hannah)(look at the results) If Pene make… Read more »
The swim Ontario academy is desperate for swimmers because nobody originally signed up. They used this opportunity to gain ajax swimmers, but all they got were the slower ones from the ajax group.
All the accusations being made on this website are from the parents of slow swimmers who weren’t happy that their child was not the fastest, and couldn’t deal with the fact that Matt was an amazing coach, and still their child sucked at swimming.
Please do not make swift accusation about parents who decided to join the Academy. Let’s respect their decision. I smell something not right here on some comments by other. Looks like they are using different strategies trying to create intrigues among Ajax parents, obviously with vested interest to grab or de motivate the high performance swimmers.
The comment of swim parent about an ajax superstar swimmer groping the lady swimmers is totally gross.
Ummm…pretty sure at Easterns the OSA kids had very good results…especially Hannah Genich in the 100 fly and 200 fly who came 4th only behind 3 of the national team members. Ya she sure is one of the slow ones…she sucks. She almost outtouched Penny Oleksiak in the 200 fly. And the 3 other girls made multiple finals. Ya they sure suck. That is 4 out of the 6 ex Ajax “slow swimmers who suck” who made finals…both A and B finals at Easterns this weekend. Hannah Genich from OSA is going to the Orlando Grand Prix in March…qualifying times are faster than our trials times…. Wow she sucks. So slow. OSA sucks. Hannah Genich and Emily Vandenberg are qualified… Read more »
I kinda agree with this and just to be clear this is my personal opinion so don’t take it personally. However it also may be due to the driving of the athletes. It’s hard for some of those parents to drive all the way to markham. But you have a point. The swimmers at the academy are slower than those of markham. I feel that gennich is the only one improving and has the potential to go fast in the future. The others such as harrison and Robertson are there because of the driving situation and have no other good clubs in there area.
Well Vandenberg had only one Senior National time last year and now has several along with a Trials time. So there is improvement. Carruthers missed the Trials cut by 1/100th of a second at Easterns. She is only 14. I think that is pretty fast really. And as for Fernandes…well she has improved a lot from last year…not sure how many senior national times she has right now. Yes Genich is most certainly the rising star from OSA. However I do not think that you can say that only the slow swimmers went to OSA. I am pretty sure that you are relatively fast if you are going to Senior Nationals and Trials. The swimmers at OSA have paid the… Read more »
The OSA swimmers are doing at least as well as any group at any club in the country. I hear Manley is well liked and his coaching methods seem to be producing results. I think the problem for the Academy going forward will be location (in the city, not the facility), school options and the restrictions they put on the swimmers. I have heard third hand that they ask kids to commit to staying in Canada for their post secondary education. I don’t understand why anyone would choose that option at 14 or 15 if that is true. If anyone knows someone who swims at the Academy can they confirm?
Captain Ontario, my daughter Emily Vandenberg swims for OSA. We were one of the first ones to have an interview and that interview was with Darin Muma and Andi Manley. The topic of post secondary education was discussed. They asked Emily what she wanted to do and she said she wanted to go to the USA. She was not criticized for this and has certainly not been treated any differently for stating this. They did advise that when the time comes they would give Emily her options in Canada but there was certainly no pressure at all. They are well aware of the fact that we have hired a recruiter and that she has been in contact with some schools… Read more »
Wow. Some of the comments here are crazy! The kids in the Ajax HP group were top in the province and are ranked in Canada. Now that they’ve been split up, their times still represent the top percentage of finishers at the meets they attend. My daughter (one of the younger ones who got ‘left behind’), takes pride in totalling up all the former ex Ajax swimmer’s results from meets. … MAC can say they’re dominating results now – buts it’s only because they were handed top swimmers with amazing work ethics and physical fitness on a silver platter.
I’m still so proud of our Ajax swimmers. And I know that some have chosen to quit over this time… Read more »
CAROLYN VANDENBERG you are correct, they do not care whether she stays in Canada goes into the NCAA. However, I am under the impression that if Emily decides to attend school in the USA she will not be allowed to train with the OSA group when she comes back for the holidays and summer.
I have not been advised of that. So I cant comment whether she can train with OSA if she goes to the US. She still has one more year with OSA. We all have a home club when we are with OSA. So we still belong to a swim club. But I can say it was never put to me that she could not train with OSA if she goes NCAA. We will see when the time comes. I find that everyone seems to find negatives about OSA and dont think about positives. We have had a very positive experience there. As have all the other swimmers there.
You’re speaking for all parents and should not be. Especially when you have the facts incorrect.
“He was well aware of the financial situation of Ajax Aquatic Club.” maybe, maybe not. You can’t prove that.
“In fact it is my understanding that he has asked previously to a different Board to take the club private but they refused.” I heard he wanted to buy some groceries and get his car washed….lol….what does it matter what you/me or anyone else ‘heard’ around the lobby?
“The Board that was in existence during the last year of the Ajax Aquatic Club was made up of ALL brand new members. People that he approached and asked to be on the Board… Read more »
Actually I am not speaking for all parents at all. I am speaking as a person who was well aware of what went on financially that year. And was privy to exactly how things were done. Privy because we were in it. Believe me or not.
Just wanted people to know that it was not a case of Matt saving the club.
And actually yes there was a vote to let Matt have the club because really there was no other option. But there were a lot of parents at that meeting that were not happy. And sorry there is a difference between expanding your business and disolving a non profit business and creating a private one with the… Read more »
Matt did not save Ajax Aquatic. Matt bought the club legally, then changed the name to Ajax Swimming. That’s not really saving it. It’s killing it and starting over.
If you knew so much about what was going on and the club was in a dire financial mess, where were you? You certainly kept quiet about it and didn’t let the rest of us in on it. Lump in your throat at the meetings I guess ? But now that you can be anonymous behind a keyboard, you’ll stir it up. I wonder if we voted for you?
The ‘lot of parents at the meeting who were not happy’ sure didn’t express it with their vote. The vote for… Read more »
This would not be raised as evidence obviously….as I stated before I was responding to an earlier comment about Matt taking over the club and how it actually occurred. Has nothing to do with the criminal trial. Someone else brought it up intitially not me.
Anyways…I am out, it is obvious that in this forum anyone who does not support Matt is not welcome and should keep their opinions to themselves.
I agree with you. So in the end he showed how much he cared about kids by shutting down the club.
Captain Ontario, they are recommended to stay in Canada, especially Ontario, specifically U of T. Daren said that to multiple swimmers that were interviewed. Genich was (no offence) garbage when she came to ajax and Matt was able to fix her stroke and that is why she is doing so well, she always had the endurance, she just needed the technical work. Surprise, shes going to U of T next year!!!
Ex swimmer, all those people were tapered, lets see how they do when it counts. Also, if were on the topic of easterns, let us talk about how Harrison came dead last in one of his races. Genich is the only outlier in this, the rest of the… Read more »
The Truth… How do you know they were all tapered for Easterns? Because in fact they were not tapered. They were barely rested.
And as for your Harrison comment… Harrison was very sick at Easterns. Missed 2 days of racing. In fact didnt go to the pool. How do I know?? I was there…chaperoned the team. Drove around getting him medicine and trying to get him to a walk in.
Why do you put the OSA swimmers down so much? Why do you care about making the point of how great the swimmers are that went to Markham???
As I said before this negativity and the hurtful comments are so sad.
Hannah, Emily and Caroline are going to… Read more »
Oh and The Truth …. See my reply further up to Captain Ontario in regards to the actual truth regarding the OSA’s position on their swimmers staying in Canada for their post secondary education.
To all former Ajax Swimmers especially those swimming next week at the Rio Trials and the core group who stick together like a good captain of the ship, who never abandon a sinking ship. We are always proud of you, You managed to survived probably, the most painful things that could have happened in your swimming career. Although, we knew you cannot totally forget everything. Whatever happened next week and in future you are already winners in lots of ways.
You are all intelligent kids. Some of you might have read all negative comments of this forum.(believed me. these are the same people who uses different aliases) Erased all negative in your mind right now. Stay focus, Have fun next… Read more »
Genich was not garbage, she has always had great technique. Matt pushed her and showed her what she was capable of and she has carried that on and is continuing to improve. She was not told to go to any school, she made the best decision for her, let’s be happy that these kids have come out of a difficult situation and are continuing to thrive wherever that may be.
You are absolutely right. Genich was never garbage…Matt never brought garbage swimmers to the club. Trials is over and all the ex Ajax swimmers did great! Emily didnt make finals but she dropped time and I am proud of her. Hopefully we can all move on and just be happy for everyones success