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| Photo Credit: Boston 25 News. |
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Multiple cheerleading coaches in South Carolina — including a coach who recently killed himself — sexually abused at least six boys and girls and provided them with drugs and alcohol, a federal lawsuit alleges.
A “coven of
sexual predators” surrounded Rockstar Cheer of Greenville for more than a
decade, according to one of the lawyers for the alleged victims.
Attorney
Bakari Sellers contends that what happened is a result of the same kind of
institutional failure seen in the case of Larry Nassar, the former USA
Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor who is serving a minimum of 40
years in prison after admitting that he molested some of the nation’s top
gymnasts for years.
The lawsuit
was filed Thursday by four girls and two boys who said they were abused by
Scott Foster and others affiliated with Rockstar gyms. It suggests there could
be up to 100 more survivors of the abuse.
“Scott Foster and his allies did their best to
intimidate and isolate their targets, making these young people feel alone and
somehow responsible. Well, they’re not alone anymore,” attorney Jessica
Fickling said in a statement announcing the suit.
Foster, 49,
was found dead in his car at a state park on Aug. 22. He shot himself in the
head, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office ruled.
“He knew this was going to be a moment when
the light was going to be shined on what I think will turn out to be a coven of
sexual predators surrounding Rockstar,” said attorney James Bannister.
A number of
people either knew Foster was abusing his cheer students and ignored it or did
not have rules and procedures in place to stop the abuse, the lawsuit says.
Foster and
other coaches not named in the lawsuit had sex with cheer students, sent and
asked for explicit photos over social media, gave them alcohol and marijuana at
their homes and in hotel rooms at cheer competitions and warned them to not
tell anyone about it, according to the lawsuit.
“We have
video of Scott Foster on Snapchat with beer bongs drinking with his underage
cheerleaders,” Sellers said at a news conference this week.
The suit
also names Varsity Brands, which runs cheerleading competitions; the U.S. All
Star Federation, which is an organizing and governing body for competitive
cheerleading across the country; Bain Capital, which bought Varsity in 2018,
and others.
State and
federal police are investigating Foster’s Rockstar Cheer and other cheerleading
outlets, seizing computers, cellphones and other evidence, Bannister said. He
said the investigating agencies asked lawyers not to identify them.
Several state and federal agencies have refused to tell news outlets whether they are involved.
Foster’s
wife, Kathy, promised to cooperate with “all involved” to make sure athletes
can safely learn and grow.
“I am
heartbroken by the recent allegations made by current and former athletes from
Rockstar Cheer and other cheer gyms across our community,” she said in a
statement released this week. “I hope the survivors are seeking and receive the
support they need. I am sympathetic to their stories.”
Varsity
Brands President Bill Seely called the accusations devastating.
“Our hearts
are broken right alongside yours,” he tweeted Thursday. “The alleged conduct
runs counter to everything the cheer and dance community is intended to
represent.”
Bain Capital
didn’t return an email seeking comment.
Rockstar
Cheer’s name is on more than a dozen gyms in South Carolina, Georgia, North
Carolina, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Arizona.
Ten of the
gyms said in a statement this week that they had no connection with Foster and
would be dropping the Rockstar brand name.
Foster
opened his Greenville gym in 2007, according to his website.
Follow
Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.