Sexual Abuse And Molestation Scandal Rocks USA Swimming
LatestA recent spate of sex abuse cases among USA Swimming coaches is drawing comparisons to Catholic Church sex scandals. And both organizations are using the same excuse — they don’t abuse kids any more than other people do.
The swimming scandal, as set forth by Megan Chuchmach and Avni Patel of ABC, is horrific both in its scope and in its details. Thirty-six coaches have been banned from the USA Swimming organization, which controls amateur competitive swimming in the US and selects the Olympic team, for various forms of sexual misconduct. One coach, who was sentenced last year, used a hidden camera to tape high school girls as they showered. Another allegedly impregnated a 14-year-old. Most disturbing of all, some coaches were able to evade detection for years, moving from one gig to another with no punishment by law enforcement or USA Swimming. One coach molested girls for thirty years, sometimes raising suspicion among parents and police, but was still given a clean background screening by the organization in 2008.