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| “ | You're just jealous because I didn't want your papi's sloppy seconds. | „ |
| ~ Solís taunting Esperanza Morales about her father's sexual abuse. |
Romeo Solís is the secondary antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Redemption in Her Corner". He is a gym owner and boxing trainer who sexually abuses the teenage girls he "mentors".
He was portrayed by Clayton Cardenas.
Biography[]
Early life[]
As a young man, Solís was a middleweight boxer. After he retired, he opened his own gym, where he trained young, up-and-coming boxers. His biggest success was Esperanza Morales, a young woman who was hailed as the most talented boxer in her weight class in Manhattan's Lower East Side. He also served as a surrogate father to Esperanza and was the only person she ever confided in about the years of sexual abuse that she and her sister Graciela suffered at the hands of their father, Santos.
He had a dark side, however; unbeknownst to his students and fans, he was an ephebophile who used his status in the boxing community to prey on the teenage girls he "mentored" as a trainer. Shortly before the events of the episode, he began molesting 16-year-old Cami Vega, manipulating her into believing they were in love so that she would not tell anyone.
"Redemption in Her Corner"[]
One day, Esperanza sees Cami leaving Solís' office with her clothes in disarray. Horrified, she confronts him, but he merely tells her to mind her own business. When she demands to know if he abused Cami, he cruelly taunts her about her abuse history, sneering that she is just jealous that he wants Cami and not her because she is her father's "sloppy seconds". Enraged, she punches him in the face so hard that he falls over and hits his head on the floor, rendering him unconscious. He is taken to the hospital, while Esperanza is arrested for assault.
Officer Kat Tamin of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit, who often trains with Esperanza in the gym, visits her in jail, and she tells her what Solís did to Cami. Tamin tries to talk to Cami, but the girl refuses to help her arrest Solís, claiming that they are in love. Tamin and Detectives Fin Tutuola and Amanda Rollins keep investigating, however, and eventually find enough evidence of Solís' guilt that they arrest him for statutory rape in his hospital bed once he regains consciousness.
Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi Jr. has a judge come with him to Solís' hospital room to arraign him. During the arraignment, however, Solís suffers a brain hemorrhage and dies, and Esperanza is charged with manslaughter, for which she faces 15 years in prison. Fortunately, she and Graciela are able to help the SVU team arrest Santos for rape and child sexual abuse, which proves that Solís provoked the confrontation that ended in his death by mocking her abuse history. Carisi makes a deal with her in which he will serve only two years in prison for assault.
External links[]
- Romeo Solís on the Law & Order Wiki
