6 coaches named in lawsuit

USA News

"Team Theinfotrove"

September 16, 2022

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GREENVILLE, S.C. – Six extra coaches previously related to Rockstar Cheer have been accused of sexual abuse in a federal lawsuit amended Thursday, the most recent growth in an escalating scandal that has despatched shockwaves via the world of aggressive cheerleading.

The lawsuit, initially filed Sept. 1 in Greenville, South Carolina, now consists of three further feminine plaintiffs, all unidentified, plus the brand new coaches, who’re accused publicly for the primary time — Kenny Feeley, Josh Guyton, Nathan Allan Plank, Christopher Hinton, Traevon Black and Peter Holley.

The coaches, together with Rockstar founder Scott Foster, are accused of a variety of misconduct, together with rape, offering medicine to athletes, groping and inappropriate touching, and the change of sexual photos. In a number of situations, the alleged abuse occurred when the plaintiffs have been minors.

Practically all the abuse is alleged to have occurred whereas the defendants have been teaching at Rockstar Cheer and Dance Inc., the now-shuttered aggressive cheerleading gymnasium in Greer, South Carolina.

The lawsuit alleged that Foster’s habits is a symptom of a a lot wider drawback. The grievance assaults the tradition and group of aggressive cheerleading, detailing an exploitative system with little accountability that “created, organized and propagated a system of young-athlete abuse in opposition to harmless victims.”

Foster was discovered to have died by suicide final month, in accordance with the Greenville County Coroner’s Workplace.

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The amended grievance accuses Feeley, then a coach working for Foster, of sexually abusing an unnamed feminine plaintiff at a resort the place the group was staying throughout a contest. The grievance additionally alleges Feeley raped the identical plaintiff at his condo after supplying her with medicine and alcohol, doubtlessly with Foster’s data.

When this abuse allegedly occurred was not included within the lawsuit.

Feeley was an assistant cheerleading coach at Clemson College between 2004 and 2006, in accordance with the web site for his present cheerleading consulting enterprise, Spring CTD.

An unidentified male plaintiff alleges Black and Holley “started making inappropriate and vulgar feedback to him” when he joined Rockstar. On the time, the plaintiff was 14 years outdated. Two years later, when the plaintiff was 16, in accordance with the grievance, Black and Holley solicited “nude pictures” from the minor.

One of many two coaches, whose identification is left unspecified, is alleged to have additionally despatched nude images of himself to the plaintiff.

Guyton is alleged to have touched a 15-year-old minor inappropriately whereas a coach at Rockstar. The touching, which the grievance identifies as “grooming habits,” occurred each on the gymnasium and at his dwelling, in accordance with the lawsuit. Solely after the plaintiff “confided in her mom” in regards to the habits did the plaintiff acknowledge it “as abuse,” in accordance with the lawsuit.

One unidentified feminine plaintiff alleges quite a lot of abuse by three coaches – Kathy Foster, Scott Foster’s spouse, for “bullying,” “body-shaming,” and “extreme” and punishing coaching; Plank, for sending nude images and movies of himself masturbating to the plaintiff when she was solely 13; and Hinton, for forcing the plaintiff to “carry out oral intercourse on him” when she was 14.

In keeping with the grievance, the plaintiff didn’t report Hinton’s alleged assault for concern that “coaches or others at Rockstar would goal” her sister, who additionally skilled on the gymnasium. Equally, the defendant felt “powerless to cease” Plank’s alleged abuse, fearing “she could be demoted in this system or in any other case punished.”

The plaintiff did, nonetheless, disclose Plank’s abuse to her mom, who then reported it to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Workplace and cheerleading’s governing our bodies Varsity Spirit LLC and USASF, in accordance with the grievance. However the mom’s stories have been “dismissed as an try to govern her daughter’s place on the cheer group and within the gymnasium,” the grievance alleges.

Lastly, the grievance ranges new allegations in opposition to Scott Foster, already accused of abuse by quite a few plaintiffs on this lawsuit and a earlier grievance filed in Greenville County final month. Within the amended grievance filed Thursday, Foster is accused of offering medicine to an unidentified plaintiff at a cheer expertise camp in Miami when the plaintiff was 18. The grievance additionally alleges Foster introduced the plaintiff to a nightclub, the place he bribed a bouncer to permit her entry.

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Institutional failures alleged, together with by Varsity Spirit

The amended lawsuit consists of an extra new defendant — Jeff Webb, founder and former CEO of the aggressive cheerleading group Varsity Spirit LLC, which can also be named as a defendant.

Varsity, Varsity’s proprietor Bain Capital, Varsity’s former proprietor Charlesbank Companions, and cheerleading’s governing physique the USA All-Star Federation are alleged to have created and sustained an atmosphere that enabled abuse. In keeping with the lawsuit, these organizations operated an exploitative system with little accountability that “created, organized and propagated a system of young-athlete abuse in opposition to harmless victims.”

The lawsuit alleges complicity on the a part of Webb in his capability as head of Varsity. Webb is described because the “brainchild” of the aggressive atmosphere created by Varsity and used “competitions as a mechanism of his corporations to determine dominance of the cheer market.”

The grievance alleges Varsity staff resigned from positions on the group due to the abuse and systemic failures they observed, significantly when it got here to insurance policies associated to athlete security and rampant use of alcohol and drug use of athletes at cheerleading competitions.

Webb is presently the chairman of the board of administrators of Varsity Manufacturers LLC. He served as president till 2020 after allegations of abuse by Jerry Harris, a former cheerleader, and coach who rose to fame from the Netflix documentary collection “Cheer.”

Harris was convicted of the manufacturing of kid pornography after soliciting movies and pictures from two 14-year-old boys. He was sentenced to serve 12 years in federal jail.

USA TODAY INVESTIGATION:The cheerleading trade and Jerry Harris’ crimes

A brand new milestone in Rockstar allegations

The allegations revealed Thursday symbolize a major new milestone within the unfolding Rockstar Cheer saga. Although earlier authorized filings and information releases had alluded to abuse by a number of coaches, solely Foster, Rockstar’s deceased proprietor, was recognized by identify.

Now, the widening inquiry has ensnared different people.

“We’re speaking about severe repeated abuse that was reported to everybody, together with the Greenville County Sheriff’s (Workplace),” Bakari Sellers, an lawyer with Strom Legislation Agency, which filed the lawsuit, stated in an emailed press launch. “For Varsity Spirit, the USASF and Bain Capital, these survivors didn’t matter. Their checks did. They did nothing to cease this abuse then they usually’re doing nothing now.”

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