ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of Teen

[ludahai]

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The coaches have molested, fondled and abused dozens of swimmers, according to court records and interviews conducted by ABC News for reports Friday on "World News with Diane Sawyer" and "20/20."

Must be because US Swimming required their coaches to be celebate and they are violating RICO statutes by covering things up, right?

 

[PonyBoy]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

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Must be because US Swimming required their coaches to be celebate and they are violating RICO statutes by covering things up, right?

RICO>'Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act'.

 

[ludahai]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

RICO>'Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act'.

Something that some people on here want used against the U.S. Catholic Church...

 

[Jetboogieman]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

Catholic thing aside. That's horrible. Send those assholes to jail for life.

 

[TurtleDude]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

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Must be because US Swimming required their coaches to be celebate and they are violating RICO statutes by covering things up, right?

Damn

I was on the US Jr SHooting team-we never had that problem

I wonder why:mrgreen:

 

[The Giant Noodle]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

Catholic thing aside. That's horrible. Send those assholes to jail for life.

Thing is the swimmers were in their 40's :roll:

 

[Jetboogieman]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

Thing is the swimmers were in their 40's :roll:

What are you talking about?

 

[PonyBoy]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

Thing is the swimmers were in their 40's :roll:

Do what!?...

 

[ludahai]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

Thing is the swimmers were in their 40's :roll:

I think the coaches were in their forties. The swimmers were teens.

 

[Chappy]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

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Must be because US Swimming required their coaches to be celebate and they are violating RICO statutes by covering things up, right?

I guess your comment throws me off a bit because you've introduced celibacy and RICO into a horrific story about pedophiles and victimization that has nothing to do with those things. Could you elaborate?

 

[Chappy]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

Excerpted from “ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of Teen Swimmers; Olympic Governing Body Under Fire; 36 Swim Coaches Banned for Life Because of Sexual Misconduct with Teens” By MEGAN CHUCHMACH and AVNI PATEL, ABC News, Apr. 9, 2010
[SIZE="+2"]T[/SIZE]he executive director of USA Swimming, Chuck Wielgus, acknowledged the problem, but said "It's "It's not nearly as serious in USA Swimming as it might be in the rest of society."

"I don't want to be the one to sit here and say 36 is not too many, one is too many, but this is not just a problem that's isolated to one sport," said Wielgus.

In some cases, the swimming coaches found to have been sexual predators were able to move from town to town, one step ahead of police and angry victims and their parents.

"We have a system that does not encourage the reporting," said Bob Allard, a San Jose, CA lawyer representing sex abuse victims suing USA Swimming. …


"We want to have the gold standard and I think we do an awesome job," said USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus. "I don't think we're perfect.

Wielgus says the local swim clubs, not the national organization, bear the responsibility to check the full backgrounds of swimming coaches they hire.

He said the 36 coaches banned by the organization over the last ten years were only a tiny fraction of the organization's 12,000 coaches in that time period.

"Thirty six does seem like a whole lot. A hundred is even more. Five hundred is even more," he told correspondent Brian Ross.

Asked if he had apologized to any of the young teen victims, Wielgus responded, "You feel I need to apologize to them?"

He added, "I think it's unfair for you to ask me whether individually or me as the representative of an organization to apologize for something when all we are trying to do is everything we possibly can to create a safe and healthy environment for kids who are participating in our particular activity."

I suspect Chuck Wielgus' contract as the executive director of USA Swimming will not be renewed after this disastrous interview with Brian Ross. It is clear that USA Swimming has a problem and it starts with its executive director's failure to understand that their organization must work even harder to provide a safe and healthy environment for these child athletes.

 

[ludahai]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

I guess your comment throws me off a bit because you've introduced celibacy and RICO into a horrific story about pedophiles and victimization that has nothing to do with those things. Could you elaborate?

You mean you don't follow the rhetoric and hatred spewed by anti-Catholics on this board and in other places?

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

You mean you don't follow the rhetoric and hatred spewed by anti-Catholics on this board and in other places?

Nothing to do with this story, however.

 

[ludahai]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

Nothing to do with this story, however.

I love how some people come on here (not specifically referring to you) hide behind statements like this. Oh... it isn't relevant. But this is an issue that IS connected. This type of situation IS a problem throughout society. It isn't ONLY in the Church and it isn't ONLY in US swimming. It exists in other sports as well (I know it exists in soccer -- though I coached boys, I have personally heard rumors of girls' coaches accused of similar problems). So, when you look at the big picture, it DOES have something to do with this story. It isn't about celebacy, as some claim regarding Catholics, it isn't about the immorality of coaches -- though there are some immoral coaches and priests out there. It pervades society.

In this case, you have very fit, athletic female teens who present a very tempting target for some coaches. This is a societal problem that is not limited to one subsection of said society.

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

I love how some people come on here (not specifically referring to you) hide behind statements like this. Oh... it isn't relevant. But this is an issue that IS connected. This type of situation IS a problem throughout society. It isn't ONLY in the Church and it isn't ONLY in US swimming. It exists in other sports as well (I know it exists in soccer -- though I coached boys, I have personally heard rumors of girls' coaches accused of similar problems). So, when you look at the big picture, it DOES have something to do with this story. It isn't about celebacy, as some claim regarding Catholics, it isn't about the immorality of coaches -- though there are some immoral coaches and priests out there. It pervades society.

In this case, you have very fit, athletic female teens who present a very tempting target for some coaches. This is a societal problem that is not limited to one subsection of said society.

I'm not disagreeing with you there. I worked with a girl who was abused by a swimming coach. What I'm saying is that instead of discussing the issue in the general an on target terms that you just did, all your OP did was rail against those who attack the Catholic Church. It seemed catty and demeaned the real issue, here... that this particular issue is far more prevelent in society than people think. By the time they are 18, do you know what percentage of girls are sexually abused in some way? 25%. One in four. That is a HORRIFIC statistic.

My comment was more directed at how it seemed that you were minimizing a terrible story because of your own personal annoyance at folks condemning the Catholic Church.

 

[Pull My Finger]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

Obviously an adult already wields a certain power over a child, but for someone like a coach, minister, or doctor to abuse the additional power they have is despicable…

Peace

 

[ludahai]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

I'm not disagreeing with you there. I worked with a girl who was abused by a swimming coach. What I'm saying is that instead of discussing the issue in the general an on target terms that you just did, all your OP did was rail against those who attack the Catholic Church. It seemed catty and demeaned the real issue, here... that this particular issue is far more prevelent in society than people think. By the time they are 18, do you know what percentage of girls are sexually abused in some way? 25%. One in four. That is a HORRIFIC statistic.

My comment was more directed at how it seemed that you were minimizing a terrible story because of your own personal annoyance at folks condemning the Catholic Church.

I was not trying to demean this problem, but it is societal, as your statistic points out. I am annoyed at people who seem to think that this is only a problem in the Church, and I think the annoyance is understandable. You know, as well as I, that there are people who irrationally attack the Church on this issue (there ARE some reasonable attacks, but not many of them by the anti-Catholic persons on DP). This story shows that it is a much bigger issue and that people's accusations that certain Church policies make the Church more likely to suffer from it. I hope you see where I am getting at now.

 

[ludahai]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

I'm not disagreeing with you there. I worked with a girl who was abused by a swimming coach. What I'm saying is that instead of discussing the issue in the general an on target terms that you just did, all your OP did was rail against those who attack the Catholic Church. It seemed catty and demeaned the real issue, here... that this particular issue is far more prevelent in society than people think. By the time they are 18, do you know what percentage of girls are sexually abused in some way? 25%. One in four. That is a HORRIFIC statistic.

My comment was more directed at how it seemed that you were minimizing a terrible story because of your own personal annoyance at folks condemning the Catholic Church.

I was not trying to demean this problem, but it is societal, as your statistic points out. I am annoyed at people who seem to think that this is only a problem in the Church, and I think the annoyance is understandable. You know, as well as I, that there are people who irrationally attack the Church on this issue (there ARE some reasonable attacks, but not many of them by the anti-Catholic persons on DP). This story shows that it is a much bigger issue and that people's accusations that certain Church policies make the Church more likely to suffer from it. I hope you see where I am getting at now.

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

I was not trying to demean this problem, but it is societal, as your statistic points out. I am annoyed at people who seem to think that this is only a problem in the Church, and I think the annoyance is understandable. You know, as well as I, that there are people who irrationally attack the Church on this issue (there ARE some reasonable attacks, but not many of them by the anti-Catholic persons on DP). This story shows that it is a much bigger issue and that people's accusations that certain Church policies make the Church more likely to suffer from it. I hope you see where I am getting at now.

I see what you are getting at. I'm big on how things are presented, because this often makes a difference in how things are received. Your presentation of the issue NOW is right on target. I understand your frustration with the anti-Catholic crowd, but I'm not sure if this was the way to go about going after them, especially the OP.

Just my opinion. Regardless, this issue is very serious, regardless of where it comes from. One cannot blame it on just one segment. The issue is not priests, or teachers, or coaches. It spans these issues, and isn't about a group, but about individuals inside the group.

 

[Pull My Finger]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

I was not trying to demean this problem, but it is societal, as your statistic points out. I am annoyed at people who seem to think that this is only a problem in the Church, and I think the annoyance is understandable. You know, as well as I, that there are people who irrationally attack the Church on this issue (there ARE some reasonable attacks, but not many of them by the anti-Catholic persons on DP). This story shows that it is a much bigger issue and that people's accusations that certain Church policies make the Church more likely to suffer from it. I hope you see where I am getting at now.

You have to admit the ‘irony’ of a pedophile priest though. It’s just SO scandalous.

Fair or not, the church is going to take heat because news is based on ratings, and sex scandals in the church are good business. People are going to have a skewed opinion because of it.

I have no problem with you wanting to educate people to the point you’re making – as long as you don’t get all preachy or anything…

Peace

 

[ludahai]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

You have to admit the ‘irony’ of a pedophile priest though. It’s just SO scandalous.

Fair or not, the church is going to take heat because news is based on ratings, and sex scandals in the church are good business. People are going to have a skewed opinion because of it.

I have no problem with you wanting to educate people to the point you’re making – as long as you don’t get all preachy or anything…

Peace

I try not to be the preachy type, but I will defend my faith when it needs to be defended, but when criticism is needed, I will do so in the spirit of Thomas More -- who DIED for the Faith -- and that is a spirit of wanting to make the Church better and to correct wrongs.

Pedophile priests DO need to be addressed, but when the Vatican is unfairly attacked, I will defend it.

Back to this issue, it is a societal problem and it needs to be addressed wholistically... Perhaps this incident and its being publicized will help focus attention on the broader problem.

 

[soccerboy22]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

Back to this issue, it is a societal problem and it needs to be addressed wholistically... Perhaps this incident and its being publicized will help focus attention on the broader problem.

I doubt it will though, because in my brief time paying attention to stories like these I have noticed only the big ones are talked about. Michael Jackson, priests, Boy scout leaders. Those are the stories people want to hear about and get upset over. Not the fact that some random person who isn't famous or belong to a well known organization did it. I wish it wasn't the case because it is a problem.

 

[Chappy]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

The OP clumsily attempts to tie this story about the serial misdeeds of dozens of high school swimming coaches to previous stories about the serial misdeeds of dozens of Roman Catholic priests.

What the OP overlooks is that the commonality between the two sets of stories doesn't end with just the nature of the crimes but also the failures of the organizations that support those criminal swimming coaches and those criminal priests.

USA Swimming's and the Roman Catholic Church's failure to recognize their responsibility, indeed their culpability, in these horrific crime sprees is rightly rejected by the public, who expected more from their public employees and far, far more from God's purported servants.

 

[Jetboogieman]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

The OP clumsily attempts to tie this story about the serial misdeeds of dozens of high school swimming coaches to previous stories about the serial misdeeds of dozens of Roman Catholic priests.

What the OP overlooks is that the commonality between the two sets of stories doesn't end with just the nature of the crimes but also the failures of the organizations that support those criminal swimming coaches and those criminal priests.

USA Swimming's and the Roman Catholic Church's failure to recognize their responsibility, indeed their culpability, in these horrific crime sprees is rightly rejected by the public, who expected more from their public employees and far, far more from God's purported servants.

Oh it's just "petty gossip" and you know it /sarcasm

 

[Zyphlin]

Re: ABC News Investigation: USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of T

ludahai, I think you're issue was you didn't give really any indication of your point in the OP other than referencing it to catholics. It didn't look like there was any thought there beyond simply utilizing a story of a traumatic situation to push essentially a one liner political opinion. If you had posted what you posted later on, with a more indepth reasoning why you felt they were connected, I think it would've gone over better.

That said, there are reasons that the outrage is there more so for the catholic church right now than say, U.S.A. Swimming.

First, we need to look at the culture thing. Religion is something ingrained in a large segment of the population and is viewed as holy, sacred, and good. The mental impact of someone who is not simply a coach or mentor, but is your spiritual leader, likely hits into the psyche of America far more than "coach fondles kid". Its that even greater trust factor. One guy teaches you how to swim. The other teaches you how to connected with your lord and savior.

Second, while the USA Swimming guy was definitely a douche in presentation, the action was swift. It was found out, they were fired, end of story at this point. The Catholic church has a history of shuffling around and hiding those that perform the acts, which frankly makes each subsequent situation even more heated, even more inflaming, and an even bigger deal.

Third, and this goes with number two, it seems to be how long many of these situations have been going on with the Catholic Church that causes some of the excess heated focus on it. Not only does it point to the above suggestion of covering it up, but the simple length of them cause a greater outcry in and of themselves. Its one thing if a guy molested two or three kids, was caught, and that was the end. Its another thing if a persons been there for 20 years, doing it that entire time.

Fourth, is the inherently hypocritical nature of it with a catholic priest which then piles an additional thing on top of the pedophilia. In both cases the coach and the priest would've done wrong, however the Priest has also been standing in front of you and his patrons for X amount of years preaching the word of god, listening to your confessions, speaking about sins and morality...all the while doing something absolutely reprenhensible within the actual church.

Fifth, I understand your point about the Celebacy and how its a bit of a red herring to focus on that as a "causes" for it in the Catholic Church when NON-celebate people do the act as well. I think there's a legitimate argument you have there. At the same time, I think there is some sense to the notion that it may INCREASE the risk, though by how much I can't say.

Ultimately, I get your point. There's HUGE focus when this happens with the catholic church while if it happens elsewhere its a story and then it passes. However, as detailed above, I think much of that is due to the Catholic Church's actions and the social aspect surrounding it.