There is a long history of sexual abuse within USA Swimming, with allegations dating back several decades. The organization has been criticized for its handling of abuse allegations, and survivors have accused USA Swimming of failing to take adequate steps to protect athletes from abuse.

Some of the most high-profile cases of sexual abuse within USA Swimming include:

Rick Curl: Former coach Rick Curl was accused of sexually abusing one of his swimmers, Kelley Davies Currin, when she was a teenager. Currin came forward with her story in 2012, and Curl eventually pleaded guilty to the charges against him. USA Swimming was criticized for failing to investigate allegations of abuse against Curl when they were first reported in the 1980s.

Andy King: Former coach Andy King was convicted of sexually abusing one of his swimmers, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2014. USA Swimming was accused of failing to investigate allegations of abuse against King when they were first reported.

These cases, and many others like them, have led to calls for greater accountability and transparency within USA Swimming. The organization has implemented some reforms in recent years, including stronger background checks for coaches and officials, and the creation of a Safe Sport program to address incidents of abuse. However, survivors and advocates continue to call for more systemic changes to prevent future incidents of abuse within the sport of swimming.

Allard has argued that USA Swimming has failed to take adequate steps to protect its athletes from abuse and has called for greater accountability and transparency from the organization. He has also been a strong advocate for systemic changes within the sport of swimming to prevent future incidents of abuse.

In addition to his legal work, Allard has been a strong advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and has worked to raise public awareness about the issue. He has spoken at conferences and events about the need for greater accountability and transparency within USA Swimming and has been a vocal critic of the organization’s handling of abuse allegations.

Overall, Allard’s work has been instrumental in bringing attention to the issue of sexual abuse within USA Swimming and in holding the organization accountable for its failures to protect athletes from abuse. His efforts have helped to bring about important changes within the sport of swimming and have helped to ensure that survivors of sexual abuse within USA Swimming are able to seek justice and accountability.

Yet another swimmer has come forward alleging disgraced coach Andy King sexually abused her after he was first exposed as a pedophile.

The allegations are contained in a new lawsuit filed by the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard that says King used his position of authority “to manipulate and sexually assault over a dozen female swimmers over a 30-year period,” including “A.H.”

A.H. is the anonymous plaintiff in the new case that was filed in Alameda County Superior Court (case #HG21112559).

In addition to USA Swimming, affiliates Pacific Swimming and San Ramon Valley Aquatics are defendants in the lawsuit.

“They all looked the other way, placing their profits and reputations above the safety of young, vulnerable female athletes like A.H.,” attorney Robert Allard said.

Like other young girls coached by King, A.H. dreamed of becoming an Olympic swimmer when she joined San Ramon Valley Aquatics in the late 1970s.

By the early 1980s, when A.H. was around 12 years old, King began grooming her to accept his sexual advances.

“He’d make sexually inappropriate comments to her and have her sit on his lap during swim practice,” Mr. Allard said. “He gave her gifts and paid special attention to her, even telling her how mature she was and talking about the possibility of a future together.”

A.H. was 14 years old when King stole her innocence in March of 1985.

“We know that in the summer of 1984 people in the Bay Area swimming community were talking about King’s sexual abuse of swimmer Debra Grodensky. In fact, the talk was so widespread that Debra’s competitors even asked her about it but nobody did anything about it.”

Ms. Grodensky is a client of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard. She, too, is suing USA Swimming, along with swimmers Caren McKay and Katie Kelly, alleging King sexually abused them. Their case is set for trial in May of 2022.

King’s contract with San Ramon Valley Aquatics was not renewed in mid-1985 partly due to the Grodensky sexual misconduct. So, King formed Chabot Aquatics in Hayward and continued to sexually assault young girls.

King’s reign of terror finally stopped in 2009, when he was arrested for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old San Jose Aquatics swimmer. He is now serving 40 years in state prison after pleading no contest to the criminal charges brought by the San Jose girl and three East Bay swimmers.

“USA Swimming has fostered a sexual abuse culture,” Mr. Allard said. “In 1991, a USA Swimming committee acknowledged the sexual abuse problem and recommended that steps be taken to protect young athletes. But it wasn’t until 2006 that even basic measures like criminal background checks were implemented. As a result, my clients are still suffering decades later.”

In 2018, the Orange County Register reported that at least 590 athletes were USA Swimming sexual abuse victims and at least 252 swim coaches and officials had been disciplined or banned for sexual abuse or misconduct against athletes under the age of 18.

“As long as USA Swimming fails to take care of these sexually abused athletes, we will continue to fight for victims and file lawsuits to ensure that these athletes are compensated for the lifelong harm caused by the organization,” Mr. Allard said.

“I am glad that we were able to come to a resolution to this difficult process. As I begin the next chapter of my life, I hope that these last two years, along with the efforts of so many others, will help to provide athletes with a safer environment in which to compete,” Mrs. Kukors Smith said.

USA Swimming added the following: Throughout this process, Mrs. Kukors Smith has shown incredible strength and bravery and offered a powerful voice to all survivors. In sharing her story, Mrs. Kukors Smith thrust the very important subject matter of sexual abuse within youth serving organizations into focus and furthered important dialogue about the continued need for robust athlete protection policies and strong athlete and parent education.

Mrs. Kukors Smith is a former world record holder in the 200-meter individual medley and placed 5th at the 2012 London Olympic Games in the event.

Six victims identify former coaches Everett Uchiyama, Mitch Ivey and Andy King as their sexual abusers; King is a convicted child molester who is serving 40 years for his crimes.

The three lawsuits that were filed in early June 2020 are the latest volley against USA Swimming, which has come under fire for decades for condoning a culture that allowed young girls to be repeatedly abused by their coaches.

USA Swimming is the National Governing Body for the sport;  it oversees more than 2,800 swim teams and is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competitions, including the Olympics.

Pacific Swimming and Southern California Swimming, which are local swimming committees that are supervised by USA Swimming, and numerous individual swim clubs are also named in the lawsuits.

The suits were filed by Cerri, Boskovich & Allard on behalf of six women who were sexually abused more than 30 years ago.

The women, who are now in their 40s and 50s, were all Olympic hopefuls who were abused when they were teens and pre-teens.

Three of the six victims spoke about their abuse at a June 2020 news conference, in hopes of seeing meaningful change.

Suzette Moran

“USA Swimming enabled my coach, Mitch Ivey, to abuse me because they knew he’d impregnated an underage swimmer years before he became my coach. They should have banned him then but they protected him instead and allowed him to continue coaching,” victim Suzette Moran said.

Suzette was 14 when Ivey started grooming her for his own sexual gratification. The grooming escalated and Suzette became pregnant when she was 17.

“I became pregnant a few months before the 1984 Olympic trials were set to begin,” Suzette said. “Coach Ivey told me to have an abortion, which killed my dreams of competing in the Los Angeles Olympic Games.”

Suzette started swimming for USA Swimming clubs at the age of 10. From that time on, she was exposed to a world where swim coaches viewed young swimmers as their next conquest.

“I frequently saw underage swimmers sitting on coaches’ laps,” she said. “It gave me the creeps. And when I was 12, I met another coach who Olympic gold medalist Deena Deardorff  said had repeatedly sexually abused her.”

Ms. Deardorff said her abuse started in 1968 and continued through the 1972 Munich Olympics.

USA Swimming’s then-executive director Chuck Wielgus acknowledged the problem in September 2009, when he said  he’d been notified that coaches were sexually abusing swimmers “almost every week.”

Remember the name Chuck Wielgus because it comes up repeatedly in the three lawsuits. He passed away in 2017.

Attorney Robert Allard has been advocating for women who were sexually abused by USA Swimming coaches for 13 years and said, “We know that hundreds of USA Swimming coaches sexually abused countless young swimmers, a majority of whom have suffered in silence while USA Swimming reaped the financial rewards of Olympic gold medal-winning athletes. It’s high time we give these survivors their voices back.”

Debra Denithorne Grodensky

Debra Denithorne Grodensky found her voice in order to advocate for mandated sexual abuse education and training for USA Swimming coaches, officials, volunteers, athletes and parents.

“If there had been a mandated educational program when I was a swimmer, my coach’s red flag behavior would have been recognized by me or the hundreds of people who knew about my sexual abuse,” Debra said.

Her coach was the notorious serial pedophile Andy King, who was sentenced in 2010 to 40 years in prison after pleading no contest to 20 counts of felony child molestation.

The allegations against King date back to the 1970s.

Debra was abused by King for five years beginning in 1980, when she was just 11 years old.

“Andy King’s process of grooming me for his sexual gratification began shortly after he approached my parents and explained that I could be an elite swimmer, perhaps an Olympian,” Debra said. “He also groomed my family, friends and teammates.”

“I believe my life trajectory would have been drastically different if USA Swimming did not have a culture that enabled coaches to sexually abuse their athletes,” Debra said. “It was that culture that permitted Andy King to abuse me for years without consequence.”

Debra also called out former USA Swimming executive director Wielgus for failing to protect young swimmers.

“Wielgus directed current USA Swimming members Clint Benton, Steve Morselli and Millie Nygren to keep Andy King’s abuse a secret,” Debra said. “They are still USA Swimming employees and they have never been held accountable.”

She hopes the current executive director, Tim Hinchey, will “get rid of all USA Swimming members who enabled Andy King to sexually abuse me and more than a dozen other swimmers.”

King’s abuse of Debra began to circulate throughout USA Swimming circles to the point where, in 1985, San Ramon Valley Aquatics refused to renew his contract.

But he stayed in Northern California and continued to coach and abuse young swimmers at Chabot Aquatics.

One of those swimmers, who is identified as plaintiff Katie Kelly in the King lawsuit, overheard a conversation between Pacific Swimming representatives “wherein one of them openly acknowledged King was a pedophile and/or child molester and was sleeping with his swimmers,” the lawsuit says.

While at Chabot, King allegedly sexually assaulted at least 10 young female swimmers and impregnated one of the girls, the lawsuit says.

Reports of King’s sexual misconduct finally forced him to leave the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved to Oak Harbor, Washington, where he reportedly abused two young women.

He was back in the Bay Area by 2000, working as the head coach at San Jose Aquatics.

In 2003, swimmer Katie Kelly filed a written complaint about King to Pacific Swimming that was forwarded to USA Swimming.

“Her complaint was ignored,” Mr. Allard said.  “We know of at least one underage swimmer who was abused between 2009-2010 because they didn’t act on Ms. Kelly’s complaint.”

That swimmer, however, notified her pastor, who called the San Jose Police Department. They arrested King on April 2, 2009.

For King, it was the beginning of the end.

But the trauma still hasn’t ended for his victims.

“I’ve suffered from years of anxiety and depression as a result of King’s abuse,” Debra said.

Tracy Palmero

Swimmer Tracy Palmero said it took her 15 years to realize she was a sexual abuse victim. “Once I learned that I was a victim it rocked my world – it shook and almost destroyed the foundation of who I thought I was as a human being,” she said.

Tracy was abused by Coach Everett Uchiyama, who coached her  in the early 1990s at SOCAL Aquatics in Tustin, California.

“Uchiyama began the grooming process when I was approximately 14 years old and began sexually abusing me when I was 16,” Tracy said. “It was no secret that he was abusing me – I believe the other coaches knew about it and did nothing.”

They certainly knew about it by 1999: that’s when reports circulated throughout SOCAL Aquatics about Uchiyama having a sexual relationship with yet another young swimmer. Uchiyama abruptly resigned and moved to Colorado Springs, where he worked as the National Team Coordinator at USA Swimming’s headquarters.

Tracy remained silent about her abuse until 2006.

“After living silently with this abuse for nearly a decade, I went to Chuck Wielgus and explained what happened,” she said. “Instead of assuring me that Uchiyama would never coach children again, Wielgus had him sign a secret agreement admitting to the abuse and forcing him to resign.”

That agreement banned Uchiyama from coaching for USA Swimming affiliates.

“When USA Swimming announced Uchiyama’s resignation, they didn’t say anything about the sexual abuse allegations,” Mr. Allard said. “They didn’t warn anyone in the swimming community that he was a sexual predator, nor did they notify law enforcement. They just swept it under the rug.”

In fact, USA Swimming helped Uchiyama get another coaching job that once again put him in contact with young female swimmers.

“Less than a year after he was banned from USA Swimming, their No. 2 person, Pat Hogan, provided Uchiyama a glowing recommendation to help him secure a job at the Country Club of Colorado. It was as if they were dismissing everything that I went through. This is how USA Swimming takes care of its predator-coaches.”

USA Swimming did not make Uchiyama’s ban public until late 2010 when it feared the media would blast the organization for covering up Uchiyama’s behavior, the lawsuit says.

“These cases demonstrate how USA Swimming covered up its sexual abuse problem for decades,” Mr. Allard said. “They formed a committee in 1991 to address the issue and that committee made a series of recommendations that would have protected athletes but they were ignored. As a result, countless young women and girls have suffered and are continuing to suffer because of USA Swimming’s negligence.”

He went on to say, “We are asking USA Swimming to proactively reach out to each and every person known to be sexually abused by USA Swimming coaches. Don’t wait for the laws to change as they now have in California. Please, do the right thing and stop hiding behind all of your medals and money. These are human beings, beautiful women who were subjected to atrocious acts while placed under your care and have been severely damaged as a result. Each and every one of these women have been betrayed in many ways by many people, far beyond their abusers. Indeed, these predator- coaches were allowed to openly groom their intended victims due to a culture of indifference and a cowardly willingness to tow the company line.”

Tracy is also calling for a “new culture of health, safety and athlete protection to be at the forefront of every decision that USA Swimming and its local affiliates make.”

She explained that she’s filing the lawsuit because “I want to see lasting change within USA Swimming and its affiliated organizations. I also want an investigation into who enabled Uchiyama to sexually abuse me and I want every one of those individuals banned from the sport of swimming.”

Attorney Allard agreed saying, “This organization cannot truly move forward unless it expels from its membership – permanently – those responsible for the perpetuation of this culture and replaces them immediately with good and decent people who will not hesitate to say that the protection of child members, especially from child molesters, is unquestionably the most important function of USA Swimming.”

The  USA Swimming web site lists nearly 200 individuals, as of March 31, 2021, who are banned from the sport, most for sexual misconduct. https://www.usaswimming.org/safe-sport/individuals-suspended-or-ineligible

Fujishima, 23, faces criminal charges that he had unlawful sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl he was coaching at the Stockton Swim Club. The club is now listed as “permanently closed” on the social media site Yelp.

Fujishima was also charged with committing lewd and lascivious acts upon a child and possession of child pornography. He remains incarcerated in the San Joaquin County jail on $1.8 million bond.

Fujishima and the Stockton Swim Club are both named in a civil lawsuit that was filed on behalf of the young swimmer by San Jose-based Cerri, Boskovich & Allard.

“Our plaintiff is a minor sex abuse victim, so we’re protecting her privacy by listing her as ‘Jane Doe’ in the lawsuit,” attorney Robert Allard said. “She’s traumatized by everything that’s happened, so we’re making sure she gets counseling and any other help she needs.”

The lawsuit also names Pacific Swimming, which is the regional swim committee that falls under the jurisdiction of USA Swimming – the sport’s National Governing Body.

The lawsuit says Stockton Swim Club and Pacific Swimming officials ignored the “red flags” of sexual abuse that Fujishima exhibited even though they had supposedly been trained to recognize them under the auspices of the Federal Child Abuse Reporting Act.

The Grooming Process Leading to Sexual Abuse

The abuse began in February 2017 when Fujishima instructed “Jane Doe” to lay down on the pool deck “with Board members, parents, officials and/or other coaches present, to give her abnormally long massages during which he touched the sides of her breasts.”

In June, Fujishima started texting the 12-year-old photos of his penis.

In November, he kissed her while she was cleaning up the pool deck.

All of this constitutes what experts say is “grooming” behavior that sexual predators use to manipulate their victims and the people around them.

Cerri, Boskovich & Allard victim advocate Jancy Thompson sees that happening in Stockton.

“We’ve heard some parents say they’d trust their children with Fujishima – even after he was arrested,” Thompson said. “That’s pretty typical because sexual predators groom both victims and adults to trust them, to like them.”

Fujishima’s grooming behaviors were the lead-up to a brutal sexual assault that occurred in March 2018.

“Fujishima assaulted plaintiff, pushing her up against the wall, kissing her and attempting to pull her swimsuit aside to touch her vagina,” the lawsuit says. “The presence of two other swimmers allowed plaintiff to escape, and she went to the pool deck crying, upset and alone.”

An assistant coach who saw Jane Doe crying didn’t bother to ask what was wrong.

And all the while Fujishima was assuring Jane Doe that what he was doing was “normal and okay.”

Could it be collusion?

A few months after the March 2018 assault, Fujishima began living at Jane Doe’s house because the above-mentioned assistant coach was living in Fujishima’s condo.

The Stockton Swim Club Board of Directors convened a special meeting to talk about the Fujishima living situation because they thought it could cause problems with USA Swimming.

Instead, the lawsuit says, “Fujishima threatened to remove the Board members if they caused problems for him.”

His influence was such that our young swimmer was permitted to hangout in the coaches’ lounge when other swimmers were forbidden to do so.

That’s one reason why the lawsuit maintains that Fujishima’s “favoritism” toward Jane Doe was “common knowledge” among swimmers, club officials and parents.

Then things got worse.

In July 2018, Fujishima drove Jane Doe to a swim meet in San Jose where he took her on a dinner date and had her sleep in his hotel bed with him.

At least one board member was aware of the sleeping situation and others witnessed massages and “open displays of affection” during the swim meet.

So, Fujishima’s horrific behavior was tolerated by the very officials whose job it was to protect young swimmers. It didn’t matter that the previously mentioned assistant coach saw text messages from Fujishima that addressed Jane Doe as “babe.”

Nor did it matter that the father of another swimmer complained to the assistant coach and a Board member about Fujishima’s texting.

It didn’t matter that the public massages and body pressing continued for months, and Fujishima was so bold that he lured our young Jane Doe to his vehicle for sex in the Swim Club parking lot.

It didn’t matter that Pacific Swimming and the Stockton Swim Club are governed by California laws and USA Swimming rules that protect swimmers’ safety.

None of this mattered because they were negligent, plain and simple.

Their negligence is even more alarming when you learn that Swim Club officials failed to address complaints of another coach having inappropriate relationships with minors.

They didn’t report any of this to law enforcement authorities and now Jane Doe is suffering the harm, both mentally and physically.

But our young victim hopes what happened her doesn’t happen to anyone else. So, Pacific Swimming-affiliated clubs in the Stockton area would be required to implement sex abuse training programs if her lawsuit succeeds.

Pacific Swimming is the second largest swimming association in the U.S. It oversees more than 120 swim clubs in Northern California and Nevada, representing approximately 16,000 swimmers.

Contact Us

If your child has been sexually abused by a swim coach or any adult, please contact our law firm for help. We have represented numerous child sex abuse victims. Call our office at 408-289-1417.

Stockton Swim Club parents reportedly received an email stating that Coach Shunichi Fujishima would no longer be coaching, but they were provided with no other details. In numerous cases, swim clubs or USA Swimming have tried to keep parents in the dark in an effort to protect their image or reputation.

In cases involving popular swim coaches, it is not unusual for parents to quickly come to the defense of the accused swim coach, leaving the victim and parents of the victim feeling isolated and alone. The reason is that sexual predators not only go to great lengths to earn the trust of their victims but they also work on earning the trust of the community, in this case, swim parents. This is the predatory grooming behavior.

Who is Coach Shunichi Fujishima

Coach Shunichi Fujishima is from Tokyo, Japan and competed for the University of the Pacific Swimming and Diving program. He is also affiliated with the Japanese National Swim Team and wrote for Swimming World. One of his articles, 3 Major Cultural Differences Between Swimming in Japan versus in the U.S., is still online.

His LinkedIn page states that he interned during the summer 2017 season and was responsible for submitting stories bi-weekly and delving into feature writings, race analysis, training studies and event coverage. The profile also states that he worked for the Stockton Swim Club from November 2016 until the present time as the club’s CEO and Head Coach.

About the Stockton Swim Club

In March of 2018, Stockton Swim Club members traveled to Japan to compete in a swim event attended by a reported 2,000 young swimmers from 25 different teams, including some from the Philippines, Singapore, and mainland China.

The Stockton Swim Club competes against other nearby USA Swimming clubs which are part of Pacific Swimming, Zone 2. These San Joaquin clubs include Ripon Aquatics, Tiger Aquatics in Stockton, and Ellis Aquatics in Manteca.

Contact Us

If your child has been sexually abused by a swim coach or any adult, please contact our law firm for help. We have represented hundreds of child sexual abuse victims. Call our office at 408-289-1417.

Sources: https://www.recordnet.com/news/20190111/stockton-swim-club-coach-arrested-on-charges-involving-sexual-conduct-with-children

The lawsuit claims USA Swimming manipulated background check procedures as a method of covering up Hutchison’s actions and mishandled the investigation into the allegations against the swim coach.

Kukors Smith is a 2012 Olympian. Mr. Allard stated in a press conference that the goal of the lawsuit was to force USA Swimming to “accept responsibility for allowing, and in fact, enabling a known predator coach to molest for almost a decade sexually, my client Ariana Smith…”

Protecting Pedophile Coaches Prevalent

Attorney Robert Allard has been involved in litigation against USA Swimming for nearly a decade, claiming the “culture of protecting pedophile coaches” is so prevalent in USA Swimming that the only solution is to “…blow it all up and rebuild it from the ground up.”

The civil lawsuit also names former Olympic swim coach, Mark Schubert, for his failure to report reasonable suspicion of child endangerment or child abuse. Schubert coached Kukors Smith at the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships and 2007 World Championships in Australia. It is during this time which Hutchison is alleged in the lawsuit to have been openly engaged in inappropriate behavior, such as kissing, cuddling and hugging, with Kukors Smith.

Ariana Kukor-Smith Claims Hutchison “Stole” from Her

In an interview, Kukor-Smith claimed that Hutchison stole her swimming career, her virginity, her college experience, her Olympic dream and even her friendships and that while organizations like USA Swimming could “deter, detect and discipline sexual abuse,” they have done nothing other than protecting their public image.

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/olympics/federal-ways-ariana-kukors-says-in-lawsuit-that-usa-swimming-covered-up-alleged-sexual-abuse-by-coach/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/ariana-kukors-smith-alleges-top-usa-swimming-officials-ignored-sex-abuse/2018/05/21/1d6f3246-5d36-11e8-a4a4-c070ef53f315_story.html?utm_term=.b8fce4fe8034

Hogan was one of the top leaders in the organization. But he also was part of the culture that enabled the sexual abuse of young athletes to take place over many decades. Hogan married the very swimmer he once coached, proclaiming that she was 18 when he married her. He also provided cover for admitted pedophile and former USA National Team Director Everett Uchiyama. It was Hogan who provided Uchiyama with a glowing job recommendation with a Colorado Springs County Club after Uchiyama secretly resigned over sexual abuse allegations.

Woessner, unqualified for the job, was hired in 2010 following an ABC 20/20 program exposing the problem of sexual abuse inside USA Swimming. In her nearly eight years on the job, Woessner failed to take action against problem coaches and became a protector of the existing culture. The moves come just days after a Southern California News Group investigation revealed that Woessner or former USA Swimming chief executive Chuck Wielgus did not take action against 11 high profile coaches even when presented with direct complaints.

As a result of the Orange County Register investigative story, coach Chris DeSantis (formerly Penn and Georgia Tech) wrote an open letter to USA Swimming in which he states, “As members of the swimming community, we have paid a huge price for that silence. None have paid more dearly than the athletes. Ariana Kukors was abused by a coach who was protected by that veil of secrecy. High ranking employees of USA Swimming treated Dagny Knutson‘s brilliant career like their play toy.” And, “Secrecy allowed Rick Curl to coach prominently for decades after molesting Kelly Currin. USA Swimming allowed Mitch Ivey to coach for two decades after ESPN reported on his abuse.”

Said attorney Robert Allard, “On Monday, February 19, 2018, we wrote an email to new USA Swimming President and CEO Tim Hinchey asking him to terminate both Susan Woessner and Pat Hogan if he wanted to send a positive message to the swimming community that the organization was moving in a different direction in terms of protecting children from pedophile coaches. We commend him for taking our request seriously and ultimately forcing the resignations of these two individuals who were at the heart of the scandal which has rocked this great sport. Hopefully, together, we will continue to weed out all of those who were involved in covering up for and protecting known child predators. Only then can Swimming honestly represent to parents that every effort has been made to keep their children safe from sexual abuse and harassment by its coaches.”

For eight years, Allard has taken it upon himself to fight for USA Swimming sexual abuse victims. He has represented countless sexually abused swimmers pro-bono, no charge, to change the culture.

When parents of sexually abused children come to Mr. Allard, they do so with more than just the thought of filing a lawsuit for money. They also want an attorney that will change the system so that someone’s child does not have to be a sexual abuse victim.

If you seek an attorney that is genuinely interested in the well being of you and your sexually abused child, give Mr. Allard and his legal team a call at 408-289-1417. The consultation is free, and there is no fee until your case is successfully settled.

Sources:

USA Swimming leaders Susan Woessner and Pat Hogan forced out following reporting on sexual abuse

The news article also states that “top USA Swimming executives, board members, top officials, and coaches acknowledge in the documents that they were aware of sexually predatory coaches for years, in some cases even decades, but did not take action against them.”

100s of USA swimmers were sexually abused for decades and the people in charge knew and ignored it, investigation finds

There are many people still working at USA Swimming who are responsible for the repeated misrepresentations about and covering up for knowledge of pedophile coaches. This list begins with Susan Woessner and Pat Hogan. Stunningly, none of these individuals to our understanding have received any negative employment action for their bad behavior.

Mr. Hogan supplied a glowing employment recommendation for his friend, admitted pedophile and former National Team Director Everett Uchiyama to a local swim club where he had access to countless children.

As a result of the legal work done on behalf of USA Swimming victims, attorney Robert Allard is part of a team that has turned over documents to a Congressional committee investigating the role of the USOC when it comes to sexual abuse inside USA Swimming and USA Gymnastics. Some of our documents led to the first Congressional investigation into the affairs of USA Swimming by Congressmen George Miller.

If you have been a victim of coaching sexual abuse, contact our sexual abuse attorneys at the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard. You may call 408-289-1417 for a confidential and free consultation.

Despite recent stories of USA Swimming coaching sex abuse, swimming is one of the most popular Olympic sports, and the success of famous athletes such as Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin inspires children across the nation to start swim lessons with USA Swimming Clubs, YMCA programs, or municipal summer recreation pools. All too frequently, however, coaches abuse their close relationships with young athletes, and take sexual advantage of them. The problem of coaching sex abuse is worsened when the supervising organization, rather than taking steps to protect the victim and any other children under its care, tries to preserve its reputation by covering up the actions of the coach turned predator.

One of the biggest coaching sex abuse scandals in youth athletics in recent years continues to involve USA Swimming. So far, over a hundred coaches working for USA Swimming’s member clubs have been permanently banned from the sport for molesting, groping, and secretly filming the young athletes under their care.

Heightening the problem was USA Swimming’s refusal to take action against their coaches. However, San Jose attorney Robert Allard has filed a series of sex abuse lawsuits on behalf of victims against USA Swimming, and got the organization to start better protecting young athletes. The organization now has a list of banned coaches that is public.

Attorney Robert Allard: Molesters just don’t instantaneously molest. There’s a process. And what the process involves is a pedophile trying to gain the trust of not only the child, but the child’s parents. So, it may start with a hand on the shoulder. It’ll migrate to a side hug to a frontal hug and then more sinister touching’s. It also involves warning signs. Reward systems. I’m going to play you more if you do what I want. I’m going to give you A’s in school if you stay after and clean my blackboards. I’m going to give you candy, if you will stay with me. Things of that nature. Those are just examples of the behaviors that normally precede the molestations. And if you have some understanding as to what those warning signs are, then we can all best protect our kids from these pedophiles.

Preventing Coaching Sex Abuse

• Coaches should not engage in giving their swimmers rubdowns.
• Parents need to ensure that swim clubs are checking the backgrounds of anyone on a pool deck. This includes coaches, officials, and even volunteers. You must do a comprehensive background check before anyone has access to your child. Little League baseball, for example, has a comprehensive safety program that it uses to thoroughly check anyone with close access to kids.
• The rule of twos; There should always be at least two adults with a child in a situation where the child is alone.
• Coaches should not be alone with children on road trips
• Another adult should supervise all coaching; A coach and child should not be alone.

All too often, the story is the same: a coach of a sports or swim program will sexually molest an athlete who is training under them. Rather than contact police, the athletic organization or club which employs the coach will bury its head in the sand, or conduct an internal investigation without lawfully notifying the authorities. This not only fails to protect the victim from the molester, but also makes other children training at the same facility vulnerable to the predator. For this reason, you, as a parent, need to document all of your complaints and act on your gut instincts. Lastly, call the police. It is their job to investigate this type of criminal behavior. Sports organizations do not have the same training. Allow law enforcement to do its job.

Safety Tips

As a parent, there are a few other things you can do to be aware of and prevent coaching sex abuse of your child at a summer athletics training camp or retreat. General safety tips include:

• Thoroughly vet the swimming organizations and coaches who will be in charge of your child.

  USA Swimming is a large organization comprised of member clubs and affiliates across America. Double- and triple-check the organizations to which you’re considering sending your young child to swim. Ask what procedures the organization has for reporting suspected sexual abuse, punishing perpetrators, and protecting your child from harm. How are coaches or pool staff-anyone who has access to your child-being checked? Does the swim club do background checks on all its employees? Do they take fingerprints? Ask for references? What’s the process for complaints? What are the locker room and rubdown rules?

• Understand and be able to identify predatory grooming behavior.

  Size up the coaches and staff at the swimming or athletic organization. Take time to come to a few training sessions. Monitor the behavior of coaches and make sure none of them are taking too keen an interest in your child. If the coach pays special attention to your child, compliments them constantly, becomes overly touchy-feely with them, makes excuses to be alone with them, or asks penetrating questions about their sexual development, then you should immediately remove your child from the organization. These behaviors are typical red flags of predatory grooming.

• Talk to your child about body parts and sexual impropriety.

  It will be a hundred times harder for a predator to take sexual advantage of your child if your child is already aware of predatory grooming behavior and sexual impropriety. Tell your child what is appropriate and inappropriate touching and behavior between adults and minors. Tell them to inform a trustworthy adult immediately if their coach, or another adult, touches them in an uncomfortable way. Let your child know that it’s okay to say “no,” even to adults. Make sure that your child knows the correct names for body parts; using slang or pet words for anatomy will make your child’s story less credible to authorities.

• Keep records.

  Make a note of what was said in your pre-enrollment interviews with the organization, and keep a log of suspicious behaviors in coaches. Also keep any correspondence you receive from the school. This paper trail may be vital later in a criminal or civil investigation.

• Take note of your child’s behavior before, during, and after the summer athletics camp.

  Children wear their hearts on their sleeves and their behaviors don’t lie. If your child becomes withdrawn, reticent, inexplicably fearful of places or things, displays signs of sexual injury, has trouble walking, sleeping, urinating, or defecating, acts in a sexually inappropriate manner, becomes clingy, regresses to an earlier age mentally or behaviorally, or displays other untoward behavior, it may be a sign that somebody sexually molested him or her. You should seek mental healthcare for your child as soon as possible. Make sure your child knows that they can come and talk to you about anything without fear of reprisal.

• Know where to go and who to call if you suspect somebody has been abusing your child.

  There are different protocols for reporting coaching sex abuse to a national athletics training program like USA Swimming than there are for reporting sex abuse to the YMCA or YWCA. Keep a list of phone numbers you can call (including law enforcement) if you suspect that your child has been abused.

• Don’t hesitate to act on your suspicions.

  You may be reluctant to report coaching sex abuse of your child. You may doubt your child’s word, or worry about ruining an innocent coach’s career, or be concerned about your reputation. Don’t be. This is your child’s health, sanity, safety, and future at stake. Countless other children may be in danger because you failed to act. The least you can do is start an official investigation. Innocent parties will be cleared of blame and guilty ones punished for their despicable crimes, and future youth athletes protected.

These are just a few of the things you can do to ensure your child’s and other children’s safety at summer athletics retreats and camps. Based on our experience in working with victims of USA Swimming coaching sex abuse, we believe that the tips shared above will help protect your child and other children in these programs.

Contact Us

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you suspect that a coach is engaging in sex abuse. Call us at 408-289-1417 for a free and confidential consultation. Attorney Robert Allard’s landmark success protecting swimmers has earned him “2012’s Person of the Year” by SwimSwam and recognition as one of the “Top 10 Most Impactful People in Swimming” by Swimming World in 2014.

Update: February 21, 2013

According to media reports, former USA Swimming and Olympic coach Rick Curl has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing one of his former swimmers. Reports state that Rick Curl remains free on $50,000 bond. Curl will be sentenced on May 23 and is facing up to 15 years in prison. The penalty for the same charge today would carry as much as 25 years in jail.

Update: February 5, 2013 Rick Curl agrees to plead guilty to child sex abuse according to the Washington Post. A hearing is scheduled for February 21st in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The Washington Post links to a memorandum about the agreement filed in Circuit Court in Rockville. Under the Maryland law in effect at the time of the offense, Curl could face a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Original Story: Former USA Swimming and Olympic coach Rick Curl is now facing a felony charge of sexually abusing a former swimmer. Curl turned himself in on Thursday and according to the Washington Post was released on $50,000 bond.

Attorney Robert Allard, who represents victims of childhood molestation, is the pro-bono attorney for Rick Curl’s victim, Kelley Davies Currin. Allard stated, “Ms. Currin is pleased that justice is going to be carried out against Rick Curl but there remains unfinished business. We hope that a similar fate is in store for those at USA Swimming who covered up for him over a period of literally decades. The current Vice President of USA Swimming has admitted in writing that knowledge about Rick Curl “banging” his swimmers has gone back to as early as the late 1980’s. An untold amount of childhood sexual abuse has occurred due to the callous inaction of those who knew about Rick Curl’s sexual predilections and did absolutely nothing about it. We urge the authorities, as they did with Penn State, to now look into possible criminal conduct that has occurred within USA Swimming.”

Allard pressured USA Swimming to permanently ban Rick Curl from coaching. Rick Curl resigned and accepted a permanent ban on the eve of his hearing.

Here is Tim Joyce’s original story, removed twice by WBAL in Baltimore. The news director offered an explanation for the first removal but not for the permanent removal.

Swimming Coach Accused Of Molestation At North Baltimore Aquatic Club

Editor’s note: Due to the serious nature of this story, WBAL news removed Tim Joyce’s story from the website earlier Wednesday to allow us to do our ‘due diligence.’ After personally interviewing unimpeachable sources who corroborated the information Tim wrote, the decision was made to return the story to the web with absolutely no changes. —Merrie Street, WBAL AM News Director.

In a series of jarring allegations from several sources, it has been discovered that a former high-level coach with close ties to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC)—home to Michael Phelps and other Olympians—was accused of molestation and other inappropriate behavior towards some of his female swimmers while he was coaching elite athletes over a period of decades.

Upon hearing one such complaint in October of 2011 of the once-celebrated coach engaging in sexually abusive activity, NBAC immediately relieved him of his duties and followed the correct protocol. The club representative, John Cadigan, informed the alleged victim that the police would be contacting her and that USA Swimming would be called and an investigation would ensue from Colorado Springs.

Calls made to Cadigan for comment on this article were not returned. The attorney for the club, Steve Allen, spoke for Cadigan and the club, stating, “for privacy reasons we do not make any comment about former and present employees and coaches, period.”

According to other sources with direct knowledge of this story, the police were in fact called and that USA Swimming was indeed made aware of this complaint. NBAC apparently did what clubs are supposed to do: alert the authorities immediately and then inform the national governing body of the incident. In terms of whether or not NBAC heard rumors of prior abuse and didn’t act, there is no evidence yet to state such a claim.

In what has tragically been the standard operating procedure of USA Swimming, there was no follow-up investigation from Colorado Springs. Not one phone call or email was sent to the alleged victim who came forward. Additionally, this same victim approached USA Swimming months prior but was told nothing could be done because she wished to remain anonymous (USA Swimming has apparently changed that policy and now accepts anonymous reporting).

For USA Swimming not to investigate such a serious charge, especially since it involved a coach associated with this most famed club, is staggering—and made even more astounding considering that NBAC acted in such swift fashion.

NBAC is the literal and symbolic home of United States Swimming athletes. Michael Phelps is the face of the sport and in addition, several other Olympic medalists have trained at the club, among them—Theresa Andrews, Anita Nall, Beth Botsford, Katie Hoff and Allison Schmitt.

Additionally, the club at the time was—and currently is—co-owned by Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman (Bowman is currently taking a leave from coaching to work with TSE, a powerful consulting firm that was profiled in an earlier article in this series).

Just as in the cases I’ve uncovered at much smaller clubs in the Midwest and Alaska, and at major swim center likes FAST in Fullerton, California, USA Swimming chose to ignore the charges. I give USA Swimming credit for not discriminating between a large or small club—the organization seems to ignore complaints from all concerned.

But one does have to wonder—if NBAC, arguably the most respected swim club in the world, contacts the national organization to tell them of a former coach’s actions and doesn’t get a response, then what would incite Colorado Springs into action?

This is an ugly situation. To reiterate, USA Swimming, after being notified of a serious allegation didn’t act. And like all of the other columns in this series of stories about USA Swimming, the important point is not to “out” an abusive coach. Rather, this is entirely about accountability and the sinister, arrogant and dangerous disregard for victims that is displayed by USA Swimming.

Like I’ve repeatedly said for weeks—this scandal only will get worse.

The operative question—when is enough enough? Now that this cancer-like scandal has spread to the most important swim club in the country, will there be calls for the entire leadership of Colorado Springs to step down? Will it finally trigger the kind of federal investigation that has long been warranted?

The victims of abuse are waiting.

Note: Award-winning columnist Tim Joyce provided exclusive coverage of the USA Swimming scandal to WBAL. Within 24 hours of this story breaking, Joyce and all of his stories were removed from WBAL with no explanation. Here is the story as it appeared on WBAL.

Kelley Davies Currin came forward publicly earlier this year with a signed settlement agreement with Curl’s signature in which Curl agreed to pay her $150,000 in return for not going to law enforcement for allegedly molesting her starting when she was 13 years old in 1983.

Attorney Robert Allard who represents the victim has said from the onset that USA Swimming has known about Curl for years. Curl was referenced in the Jane Doe amended lawsuit filed in March of 2010. Despite USA Swimming having knowledge of Curl’s rumored past, Curl attended this years U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha on a coaching credential.

“I am happy to hear that Rick Curl may finally be starting to accept responsibility for what he did to me. I can now only hope that USA Swimming will accept responsibility for refusing to ban Rick Curl when they had knowledge to do so,” said Kelley Davies Currin.

“The fact that Mr. Curl has now been permanently banned from USA membership is only the first of what we hope are many steps, including imprisonment, which will be taken against him to ensure that justice is served for the heinous acts committed upon my client when she was just a child,” said attorney Robert Allard. “Mr. Curl was the proverbial Jerry Sandusky within this organization and, similar to Penn State immediately moving to rid itself of those who knew and did nothing, we are not going to stop until the same is done at USA Swimming, starting with Mr. Wielgus and the man who has admitted to knowing all about Mr. Curl going back to the early 1990’s and failed to take effective action to protect young swimmers – Vice President David Berkoff,” added Allard.

More on this story:

Swim coach banned for life in sex abuse case

Former U.S. national swim coach Schubert faces lawsuit
A swimming coach and philanthropist claims she was wrongfully fired by former U.S. national coach Mark Schubert after she became aware of abuse allegations within his Southern California club.

Lawsuit: Olympic swim coach ignored sexual abuse
Eight-time U.S. Olympic coach Mark Schubert, while U.S. national team director and later at Golden West Swim Club, repeatedly ignored and dismissed complaints of inappropriate behavior toward young female swimmers by a longtime Orange County swim coach, a former coach alleged in a wrongful termination lawsuit on Monday.

Ex-Olympics coach accused of ignoring inappropriate behavior
A former U.S. Olympic swimming coach ignored complaints of sexually inappropriate behavior according to a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court.

Suit against former US national swim coach Schubert claims sex abuse cover-up

USA Swimming denies cover-up with former coach

All Fall Down – Dramatic New Court Case Likely To Cause Domino Effect At USA Swimming
The claim states that Schubert fired coach Dia Rianda because of her persistence in alerting Schubert of continued inappropriate behavior by William Jewell, Schubert’s friend and assistant at the Golden West Swim Club (GWSC).

Commentary: By Allowing Coaches To Date Their Swimmers, USA Swimming Has No Choice But To Change Leadership At The Top
What we’ve discovered is that for more than thirty years now is that USA Swimming’s own investigations are either nonexistent or woefully inadequate.

Journalist Irvin Muchnick reports on more coaches charged with illegal sex abuse. In a lengthy story, which has since been removed, Muchnick questions whether USA Swimming is doing enough to prevent the sexual abuse of female athletes.

Journalist Tim Joyce questions whether the USA Swimming scandal is worse than Penn State.

Meanwhile in Orange County, former USA Swimming certified coach Todd Sousa was arrested again just a short time after being released from state prison for the same offense. It is reported that Sousa cut a deal to plead guilty to 13 felony counts of lewd acts on a child, three felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, and two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in exchange for 16 months in state prison.

Child molestation attorney Robert Allard continues to call for the removal of USA Swimming leadership in this editorial in the San Jose Mercury News.

Attorney Robert Allard of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, who represents the victim, says that USA Swimming has known about Curl for years. Curl was referenced in the Jane Doe amended lawsuit filed in March of 2010. Despite USA Swimming having knowledge of Curl’s rumored past, Curl attended last month’s U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha on a coaching credential.

Noah Rucker, a 39-year-old coach affiliated with the Curl-Burke Swim Club, was arrested last month on three counts of illegal sexual contact with a swimmer he had coached more than a decade earlier at Madison High School in Vienna, Virginia.

According to his website, the Curl-Burke Swim Club is one of the largest in the country, with 950 swimmers.

Mr. Allard has been honored as California Lawyer of the Year in 2012 for his work in exposing the USA Swimming cover-up and sexual molestation scandal. Mr. Allard encourages anyone with information on the USA Swimming molestation scandal to call 408-289-1417. You may also fill out the case evaluation form to your right.

California Assemblyman Jim Beall is announcing proposed legislation that would strengthen California’s child molestation laws.

The legislation was introduced with input from child molestation victims’ rights attorney Robert Allard and victims of USA Swimming coaching molestation.

If passed, Assembly Bill 1628 would outlaw confidential settlements involving charges of child sexual abuse, raise the statute of limitations for victims seeking civil justice from age 26 to age 35, and require private entities that use public property, such as a soccer field or swimming pool, to conduct enhanced background screenings on individuals having access to children. Assemblyman Beall said, “the law must be changed to protect children, not child molesters.”

“I have seen firsthand the horrific damage that is inflicted on victims of childhood sex abuse,” Allard said. “Most if not all of this abuse would have been prevented had these proposed laws been in place and followed at the time. I applaud Mr. Beall and his staff for taking the initiative on these measures. I have every confidence that the children residents of California will be safer if AB 1628 takes effect.”

The bill is scheduled to be heard April 17 in the Public Safety Committee.

In a related action, Beall has also introduced ACR 125, a resolution designating April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. As a result, seventy-three legislators joined as co-authors to Beall’s resolution, which was approved by the Assembly.

The U.S. Olympic Committee has distributed a new handbook, “Recognizing, Reducing and Responding to Misconduct in Sport: Creating Your Strategy”, to ensure safer training environments.

The USOC formed a task force last year which recommended that national governing bodies adopt standardized policies following a number of sexual abuse and molestation cases against USA Swimming filed by a legal team led by attorney Robert Allard.

For a confidential free consultation with an attorney, please give us a phone call at 408-289-1417. You may also fill out the case evaluation form to your right. We’re ready to help you. And you will never be obligated to pay a penny to our attorneys unless we collect.

Source: https://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/7699059/usoc-distributes-manual-preventing-sexual-physical-abuse