[Ang]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...af806968166.txt

Ashcraft trial pushed back to late June

By Matt Fritz
Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 5:08 PM CDT
LA PORTE — The trial of former La Porte High School volleyball coach Robert Ashcraft has been pushed back to June 27 due to a change of information on one of his charges.

Prosecuting Attorney Robert Szilagyi said the change was necessitated by corrective information on Ashcraft’s Class D felony charge for sexual misconduct with a minor over the age of 16.

“It’s basically how something was worded,” he said. “It’s not a new charge.”

As the charge was written, he said it referred to acts before the victim’s 16th birthday, when it was supposed to be for sexual misconduct for a minor 16 years of age or older. He said it originally covered events from February to June before the girl was 16, and now it went from June to September after she was 16.

But Ashcraft’s lawyer Steve Snyder said the charge, as originally written, only applied for a nine- or 10-day period of time. Now it is extended by three months. He said he learned of the change only days before trial.

“This was the first I heard of it,” he said. “With three additional months I was totally unprepared for, it required a continuance.”

Snyder said he had been prepared for events up to June 2008. He said this expands it to September 2008.

Snyder and Szilagyi both said an additional Class B felony was also added within recent weeks due to the discovery of another allegation from the victim within the time frame before her 16th birthday. They said this extra charge did not cause the continuance.

Ashcraft, 46, now has a total of four felony charges, including two charges of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor under the age of 16, one charge of Class C felony sexual misconduct, and one charge of Class D sexual misconduct with a minor over the age of 16.

These charges stem from allegations that Ashcraft engaged in sexual activity with a female player.

He resigned as assistant volleyball coach in October 2008 and, in December 2009, was hit with criminal charges.

[Southsider2k12]

As much as the coach deserves to be convicted for this, someone needs to file a suit to find out why school officials didn't follow the laws of reporting these sort of incidents to the proper authorities

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...6f799449241.txt

Ashcraft jury selection begins

By Matt Fritz
Staff writer
Published: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 5:08 PM CDT
LA PORTE — The amount of pretrial publicity seen in local media influenced the decision to have jury selection split for the trial of Robert Ashcraft, said Circuit Court Judge Tom Alevizos.

During the first day of jury selection Monday, Alevizos had prospective jurors separated into two groups — those who were aware of the investigation in Ashcraft’s case and those who were not.

The latter, which constituted 19 of the prospective jurors, were dismissed for the day so they wouldn’t be tainted by any talk or discussion coming forth from the interviews of the other trial members.

Alevizos kept 31 prospective jurors in the courtroom that day for private interviews with the prosecution and defense. Today, jurors who professed no knowledge of the investigation are expected to be present for their interviews as the jury is selected for the case.

*
Alevizos reminded jurors that a man’s liberty is at stake. He also told them they were not to read or watch any news stories regarding the case or talk to anyone about it.

He said he expects the trial to last more than a week.

A former assistant volleyball coach at La Porte High School, Ashcraft, 46, is facing four felony charges, including two charges of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor under the age of 16, one charge of Class C felony sexual misconduct and one charge of Class D sexual misconduct with a minor over the age of 16.

These charges stem from allegations that Ashcraft engaged in sexual activity with a female player.

He resigned as assistant volleyball coach in October 2008 and, in December 2009, was charged.

[Southsider2k12]

http://articles.southbendtribune.com/2011-...ey-steve-snyder

Former volleyball coach's trial begins in LaPorte
June 29, 2011|By STAN MADDUX | South Bend Tribune Correspondent

LAPORTE -- A former LaPorte volleyball coach was in love with a then-15 year-old player and she had a crush on him.

That's according to prosecutors in their opening statements today in the trial of Robert Ashcraft, 46, of Hudson Lake, who is charged with two counts of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor; Class C felony sexual misconduct and Class D felony child seduction.

LaPorte County Deputy Prosecutor Chris Fronk told the 12-member jury that the evidence includes letters to the girl from Ashcraft proclaiming his love for her and desire to one day build her a fancy house.

In those letters, Fronk said, Ashcraft tells the girl ''you make me feel loved. This goes beyond the sex.''

Fronk said the two met at a volleyball club that was partly owned by Ashcraft east of LaPorte, and soon they began texting each other.

Ashcraft was assistant coach on the LaPorte High School junior varsity girls volleyball team when the girl in 2007 made the squad.

Defense attorney Steve Snyder of Michigan City told jurors the allegations arise from ''an ax to grind'' by former players of Ashcraft and a teacher with ''a history of trying to embarrass the school system.''

Snyder also said he will prove some of the alleged sexual encounters did not happen on the dates the girl claims and could not have occurred at some of the locations.

''The defense is going to show you it's not the truth,'' Snyder said.

According to courtroom officials, the trial is expected to last two weeks.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...5d261966224.txt

Woman: ‘I couldn’t hide it anymore’

By Matt Fritz
Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, July 2, 2011 5:08 PM CDT
La PORTE — “Everything came to the point where I couldn’t hide it anymore,” said the alleged victim of former La Porte High School volleyball coach Robert Ashcraft.

She spoke Friday during the third day of Ashcraft’s criminal trial in La Porte Circuit Court.

The trial is concerned with the times between February 2008 and Oct. 28, 2008, when the former coach allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse with an underage former player on his La Porte High School junior varsity volleyball team.

Ashcraft, 46, is facing four felony charges, including two charges of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor under the age of 16, one charge of Class C felony sexual misconduct and one charge of Class D sexual misconduct with a minor over the age of 16.

*
The alleged victim, now 19, said she wasn’t coerced, trapped, cornered or fed answers by investigators when she was taken to the La Porte Police station in November 2009 and confessed to what had allegedly happened to her. She was 17 at the time of the confession.

When the prosecution asked her to recount that day, she said her father picked her up from work and told her she had to come with him. She said she notified Ashcraft via cell phone that something was wrong, and alleged that he told her not to tell the police anything.

She had been taken to the police station before and denied a relationship with Ashcraft.

“I knew if I said anything that everything I’ve known and put faith in would fall apart,” she explained.

But this time was different. When her father took her to the station, she decided not to hide her alleged relationship with her former volleyball coach any longer, even though she said she was still in love with him.

She described how Ashcraft fondled her in the school’s storage closet, his coach’s office, his pickup truck and the volleyball team’s training room during 2008.

She told jurors she had sex with the suspect about 25 times over the course of their relationship.

The prosecution focused on five alleged instances of sex in 2008, which reportedly happened in the last week of May, the first week of June, the second and third weeks of July, and a later date in August. On these occasions, the alleged victim said she left her home, telling her family she was going for a jog, but instead went to meet Aschcraft in his truck and later engaged in sexual acts with him.

He allegedly didn’t use a condom.

“Sad. Angry. Upset.”

Those were the words she used to describe her feelings after the interview when she realized all the dreams she said she talked about with Ashcraft would not come true.

This included his alleged intentions of following her to college, having children with her and starting a life together where he would leave his wife and support her instead.

She said they even had a name for their first child: Isabella.

The alleged victim said she originally got to know the suspect when he coached her volleyball team at the Dunes Volleyball Club in January 2007. She said her mother became sick during this time so Aschcraft became her primary ride to practice. In May 2007, when she was 14 years old, Ashcraft allegedly sent her a text message saying he loved her. A week later she reciprocated.

“It made me feel really happy,” she said. “No one [but family members] ever said they loved me.”

When he later became her coach on the La Porte junior varsity volleyball team, she gave him the combination to her locker so he could leave her messages and snacks, she said.

The trial will continue Tuesday at 8 a.m.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...71536239765.txt

Witness: Interaction with coach ‘not normal’

By Matt Fritz
For The News-Dispatch
Published: Friday, July 1, 2011 5:09 PM CDT
LA PORTE — “The problem with the program is it’s not about the truth with La Porte volleyball,” said former La Porte High School volleyball player Molly Ribordy during testimony Thursday at La Porte Circuit Court.

Ribordy, 19, said coaches must have been aware that inappropriate behaviors were going on between former junior varsity volleyball coach Robert Aschcraft and one of his players during the 2007 volleyball season at La Porte High School.

Ashcraft, 46, is facing four felony charges, including two charges of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor under the age of 16, one charge of Class C felony sexual misconduct and one charge of Class D sexual misconduct with a minor over the age of 16.

Ribordy said the inappropriate behavior included Ashcraft and the alleged victim’s constant close contact around practice and game time, the coach’s efforts in rubbing cream on the player’s back while her shirt was half way up before practice, and the alleged victim sitting between his legs while watching TV around the time of one tournament.

*
“It was not normal player and coach interaction,” Ribordy said.

She also noted that the coach and player came five to 10 minutes late everyday to the small gym, and were never punished for it by the program’s head coach.

She pointed out that parents also had expressed concerns to the coaches. During the previous day’s testimony, parent Damon Gasaway said he talked to head varsity volleyball coach Marybeth Lebo about the behavior he heard concerning Ashcraft, which he said resulted in her requiring all male coaches to never be alone with a female player.

Ribordy said Lebo also forbade players from texting Ashcraft. But the behavior continued. She said this left her feeling helpless.

“I had no one I could go to, there was no one I could trust,” Ribordy said.

When she was questioned by Defense Attorney Steve Snyder about why she didn’t talk to any adults running the program about the problem, she said she didn’t think it would have done any good.

“Obviously they let it go on for so long they weren’t going to do anything about it anyway.”

Ribordy’s mother Jan, who is now a member of the La Porte Community School Board, testified to seeing the alleged victim with her shirt pulled up to her neck while Ashcraft rubbed Icy Hot on her back. This happened in front of the bleachers around game time. She tipped police off about the matter in 2009.

She said she waited until her daughter was out of the program before she contacted police because she didn’t want her to be punished by the coaches there.

Another witness called by prosecutors Thursday was parent Dawn Leonard of Elkhart, whose daughter played alongside the alleged victim when she was on the Dunes volleyball club team. Ashcraft was a coach in the program, too.

She said the alleged victim was texted by Ashcraft during a trip to a volleyball tournament in Wisconsin in 2008. Leonard said the girl was driving with Leonard’s family because her mother was sick. The mother also gave them instructions not to let her daughter text. But she said the girl texted during the entire trip. When she confiscated the phone from her, Leonard said she recognized the number as Ashcraft’s. One of the texts asked the alleged victim to recall a time Ashcraft pushed her up against the wall and had intercourse with her.

The phone did not belong to the girl. Leonard said she asked the alleged victim where she got the cell phone from, and the girl told her it was from a friend. When Leonard called that phone’s number, she learned it belonged to Ashcraft’s wife.

Snyder asked her what date the message was sent. When Leonard said she didn’t know, he raised the possibility of the message being sent before the trip, when the phone would have been in Ashcraft’s wife’s possession. He also mentioned that since the phone belonged to his wife, Ashcraft might have thought he was texting her and not the alleged victim.

The trial continues today.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...15551341639.txt

Volleyball player testifies in Ashcraft case

By Matt Fritz
For The News-Dispatch
Published: Wednesday, July 6, 2011 5:09 PM CDT
LA PORTE — A former La Porte volleyball player alleging sexual relations between herself and a former coach while she was underage has inconsistencies in her story, said defense attorney Steve Snyder Tuesday.

Snyder questioned the alleged victim during the fourth day of Robert Ashcraft’s criminal trial Tuesday in La Porte County Circuit Court.

Snyder’s defense that day focused on the inconsistencies in the alleged victim’s past statements, inconsistencies with both the statements she made during different interviews, and with the apparent official schedules of the volleyball program at Dunes.

Ashcraft, 46, is facing four felony charges, including two charges of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor under the age of 16, one charge of Class C felony sexual misconduct and one charge of Class D sexual misconduct with a minor over the age of 16.

*
Snyder pointed out that during her first interview with investigators in November of 2009, the alleged victim reportedly told police the first act of fondling happened between her and the suspect in April of 2008.

This date changed to February of 2008 during a later deposition.

At the trial, the alleged victim told the defense this answer changed because she didn’t really think about the exact time during the first interview.

But when Snyder focused on the dates it could have happened on, he said it didn’t match with other records.

In past testimony, the alleged suspect said the incident happened in the suspect’s pickup truck outside the Dunes Operation Center in Rolling Prairie, where she played volleyball. Ashcraft was also a coach there. She said it happened when both she and her sister had practice at the center, and while her mother was gone. It also happened on the side of the center where practice occurred. She said the first incident happened on the old side.

Snyder said only two days fit this description in February, and during both days the alleged victim was playing at the new side of the building, as apparent team schedules from the month showed. The alleged victim had testified that the fondling happened at the old side.

At the trial said she didn’t know if the schedules were accurate, but said the side of the building this event happened on was dependent on the side her sister practiced on, and not the side she was on.

When he pointed out that her past testimony only mentioned her side and not her sister’s, the alleged victim said she had probably been confused by the question before.

Snyder also pointed out that at least 90 people were using the center at these times, and that it was odd that none of them would have passed outside and saw her and the suspect in the truck together.

The alleged victim pointed out that the windows were tinted and it was dark out so passersby would have had a hard time seeing them.

Snyder said the truck windows were no darker than the factory tint.

When he questioned her on not remembering the exact date of the first incident of sexual intercourse, which she could only only narrow to late May of 2008, she said the incident wasn’t a topic she thought about on a daily basis, and was something she was trying to put behind her.

The alleged victim also admitted to lying to the police on several occasions, including a time when she was interviewed in 2008. During this interview, which was the first one she had with police officers, she denied any sexual relationship between her and Ashcraft. But her story changed when she went in for questioning in November of 2009.

When asked about this inconsistency, the alleged victim said she originally wanted to protect Ashcraft because she loved him, but later had doubts about how good the relationship was.

She said Ashcraft got angry at her when she went to a dance with a boy and was later enraged when he learned about another boy wanting to ask her to the prom.

”There was just this control of my life that I was realizing more and more was there that wasn’t there in 2008,” she said.

Snyder also pointed out an inconsistency when the alleged victim told him during her deposition that she and Ashcraft communicated in June of 2008 by text messages. It was later established that she didn’t have a phone with texting enabled at the time. The alleged victim said she might have been confused about the time when asked during the deposition.

Snyder followed that up by asking if this meant she lied under oath. She said “yes.”

[bandaid19]

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte...html?mode=story


This is the one that I'm just amazed about.

[Ang]

The thing that sickens me the most about this is the fact that the prosecution is going to attack this girl and challenge her credibility. She is a CHILD for crying out loud, and she never in a million years thought it might come to this, so yeah, her dates are confused and events are jumbled around in her head. I'm sure she didn't keep a diary in the event she ended up in court.

She was taken advantage of by an adult whom she trusted and believed in. Now she is going to be persecuted for coming forward.

This whole situation is just WRONG and I guarantee you, if this were my child, the man wouldn't have his day in court, his day would be in Church all dressed up in a pine box!!!!!

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...9a474835735.txt

Alleged victim has last day of testimony

By Matt Fritz
For The News-Dispatch
Published: Thursday, July 7, 2011 5:22 PM CDT
LA PORTE — Robert Ashcraft’s alleged victim would not commit herself Wednesday to exact dates or times for alleged instances of fondling and intercourse between her and her former coach in July, September and October of 2008.

During her last day of testimony at Ashcraft’s criminal trial on Wednesday, she told the defense she could not remember the exact dates she participated in sexual acts with her former high school volleyball coach, who was 43 years old at the time of the incidents and she was only 16.

First, defense attorney Steve Snyder tried to pin her down on more specific times than just the second and third weeks of July 2008 for her second and third alleged instances of sexual intercourse with the defendant.

The alleged victim said the incidents happened in the afternoon in the defendant’s pickup truck in an area by La Porte County Fairgrounds.

*
But Snyder pointed out that a kids volleyball camp run by the La Porte High School volleyball program would have been happening throughout the second week of July during this specified time.

When asked if she would have been at the camp, the alleged victim said she couldn’t recall, pointing out that players didn’t have to attend these events, although they were expected to. They could also call off with various excuses.

For the third week in July, Snyder pointed out that the alleged victim would have been engaged in team camp in Rolling Prairie for at least two of those days while Ashcraft would have been a coach at the camp on two separate days, ruling out four days the event could have happened.

The alleged victim said she didn’t know if Ashcraft spent all day at the team camp or left for extended periods, allowing him to visit her.

Snyder said this would require Ashcraft being absent from the camp for least an hour and 15 minutes to leave, have sex with the alleged victim and get back.

For the three acts of fonding alleged to have occurred at La Porte High School in September, Snyder learned from the alleged victim that the second event was on a Tuesday or Thursday and coincided with practice, the third event was in the training room and coincided with a game, and none of the three events happened in the same week. They also occurred after school was out.

For the two fondling events alleged for October, Snyder narrowed the first down to Oct. 3 due to a tournament the alleged victim said proceeded it, and the third to a Wednesday, because the alleged victim recalled Ashcraft telling her the week was half over. Both events again happened at the school, the first in the storage room by the field house and the second in the coach’s office.

During cross examination, La Porte County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chris Fronk asked if the dates the alleged victim gave were set in stone, or if would they change if the practice and tryout dates Snyder alleged changed too. She said they would because she didn’t remember the incidents by dates, but by the events happening around them.

The prosecution also called forth expert witness Hector Maldonado, document examiner for the FBI laboratory division, who testified that the hand writing on letters provided to him by the prosecution matched the handwriting of Ashcraft. The contents of these letters were not explained, but one of the words Maldonado read off during his explanation matched a nickname Fronk said Ashcraft used in letters to his alleged victim.

Ashcraft, 46, is facing four felony charges, including two charges of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor under the age of 16, one charge of Class C felony sexual misconduct and one charge of Class D sexual misconduct with a minor over the age of 16.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...52440827457.txt

Blanket yields positive DNA results

By Matt Fritz
For the News Dispatch
Published: Friday, July 8, 2011 5:08 PM CDT
LA PORTE — Samples from a blanket found in Robert Ashcraft’s truck yielded positive DNA results for both Ashcraft and his alleged victim.

But no definitive links to sex were made.

During the sixth day of Ashcraft’s criminal trial, Shawn Flagg, a forensic DNA analyst for the Indiana State Police Laboratory, said DNA from the alleged victim was positively identified on three samples from the blanket while Aschraft’s DNA was positively lifted from one sample.

She said there were also three mixed samples composed of two people’s DNA. In one sample Ashcraft was positively identified while another person was not (the alleged victim, however was not excluded as a possible match) and another sample positively identified the alleged victim while Ashcraft was not excluded as a possible match for the other person. The third sample didn’t have any positive identification.

*
When questioned about the possibility of the samples just being skin cells deposited when someone wiped sweat off his or her head, Flagg said it was possible, but pointed out that the strength of the samples found on the 3 millimeter by 3 millimeter pieces of material didn’t suggest that. She said skin cells were more broadly spread and larger samples were usually taken to get positive results for them.

She said the concentration suggested a bodily fluid, such as blood or seminal fluid.

A previous witness, Serologist Kimberly Anderson, testified that seven areas of the blanket were identified to contain amylase (an enzyme found in high concentrations in saliva and vaginal fluids) and one area of phosphatase (an enzyme usually associated with seminal fluid).

She said there was no semen located in the phosphatase section, but explained that the person who left it could have had a vasectomy, low sperm count, sterile or had unevenly distributed sperm.

Defense attorney Steve Snyder said the prosecution was welcome to check his client for a vasectomy or sterility if the state paid for it. He then asked the judge to stop the prosecution from bringing up these possibilities again if it didn’t choose to do so. The judge said he’d have to look into the matter.

In other court matters, the legal counsel for the La Porte Community School Corporation told the defense that head varsity volleyball coach Marybeth Lebo would be advised to plead the fifth if she was subpoenaed as a witness for the trial, unless she is granted immunity by the prosecution.

This is due to a secondary investigation conducted by the state police on what administrators and staff might have known about the relationship between Ashcraft and his alleged victim. The investigation is finished but the prosecution still hasn’t made a decision on whether or not to press charges.

Ashcraft, 46, is facing four felony charges, including two charges of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor under the age of 16, one charge of Class C felony sexual misconduct and one charge of Class D sexual misconduct with a minor over the age of 16.

[Southsider2k12]

Herald Argus
Jury to begin deliberations in the Ashcraft trial today around 3 p.m. Be sure to check the paper tomorrow or log on to our website after 5 p.m. Wednesday for updates

[Southsider2k12]

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte...9e0a01ceef.html

LAPORTE | Prosecutors and the defense attorneys in the trial of a former assistant volleyball coach at LaPorte High School rested their cases Tuesday morning. Closing arguments were scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Robert Ashcraft, 46, is on trial in LaPorte Circuit Court, charged with three felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one felony count of child seduction in connection with an alleged sexual relationship with the former player, who was 15 at the time.

Judge Tom Alevizos told those in the courtroom Tuesday that jury deliberations will begin no later than 3:30 p.m.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday that during the seizure of Ashcraft's pickup truck police found anabolic steroids.

Prosecutors had asked to present two rebuttal witnesses Tuesday -- a pathologist and a chemist -- who would testify that taking steroids reduces a man's sperm count -- statements that would corroborate prior testimony that possible seminal fluid, but no sperm cells, were found on the blanket retrieved from his pickup truck.

But Alevizos didn't allow the witnesses, saying at this point in the trial, portraying Ashcraft as an illegal steroid user would be prejucial.

Copyright 2011 nwitimes.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte...l#ixzz1Rutxy6N5

[MCRogers1974]

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte...9e0a01ceef.html

LAPORTE | A jury found former LaPorte High School volleyball coach Bob Ashcraft guilty Tuesday night of sexual misconduct with a minor and child seduction.

The victim and her family choked back tears as the verdict was read. Ashcraft, 46, was immediately handcuffed and taken into custody by LaPorte County Sheriff's Department officers. He will be housed at LaPorte County Jail until his sentencing Aug. 9.

The LaPorte Circuit Court jury had deliberated for a little more than six hours after prosecutors and defense attorneys wrapped up their cases Tuesday.

Ashcraft was convicted of three felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one felony count of child seduction in connection with a sexual relationship with a former player, who was 15 at the time.

A slew of former teammates and their parents filled the courtroom gallery, as the victim and her parents listened as Deputy Prosecutor Chris Fronk laid out a pattern of abuse in his closing arguments.

Fronk said it all began in May 2007, when Ashcraft, who built up a trusted relationship with the victim and her family, abused that trust and his power of authority as her coach and began an illicit relationship with her. Fronk said the relationship included fondling, oral sex and sexual intercourse.

Fronk highlighted DNA evidence presented by experts, stating the likelihood that biological fluids from both Ashcraft and the victim were found on a blanket seized from his pickup truck. He also reminded the jury of many text messages between the two, lifted from a pay-as-you-go cellphone Ashcraft purchased for the girl. Fronk also read portions of a "love letter" found in Ashcraft's truck detailing the sexual relationship.

"It's not love when you're 43 and someone else is 16," Fronk said. "That's not love. That's a crime."

Fronk said he had everything he needed to prove that Ashcraft was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Everything but a confession," he said.

In his closing, defense attorney Steve Snyder stressed the significance of the dates alleged in the charges, saying the prosecution had no evidence of a sexual relationship and only could insinuate one through the victim's testimony.

"When you are short on hard evidence, you appeal to the jury's emotions and feelings," Snyder said.

Snyder said the victim was coaxed into fabricating dates and events to appease her parents. Snyder said that during a series of depositions, the girl's answers constantly changed.

"The information that she gave, I believe, was totally and completely false," Snyder told jurors.

[Ang]

Evidently the Jurors didn't believe the girl's testimony was totally and completely false.

I'm glad to hear justice will be served and that poor girl can move on with her life.

[Southsider2k12]

Evidently the Jurors didn't believe the girl's testimony was totally and completely false.

I'm glad to hear justice will be served and that poor girl can move on with her life.

If it had been just her word against his it would have been one thing. But there was a lot of other witnesses and evidence from the sound of it.

[Ang]

That blanket was pretty damning.

[bandaid19]

Now I'm hoping that the wave will continue... I hate to be so adamant about this, and I know the coach is popular. ANY SCHOOL OFFICIAL that knew about this, or had it reported to them and did nothing... should not be in that position any longer. This includes the school board members that had this reported to them by G. Samuelson. It's against the law for teachers to not report suspected abuse, and every school system has a protocol in place for dealing with suspicious behavior, including LPCSC. Swing that axe.

[Southsider2k12]

Now I'm hoping that the wave will continue... I hate to be so adamant about this, and I know the coach is popular. ANY SCHOOL OFFICIAL that knew about this, or had it reported to them and did nothing... should not be in that position any longer. This includes the school board members that had this reported to them by G. Samuelson. It's against the law for teachers to not report suspected abuse, and every school system has a protocol in place for dealing with suspicious behavior, including LPCSC. Swing that axe.

To me that is the most disturbing part about this whole ordeal. You can't really control an isolated student and coaches actions. If they want to hook up, there is pretty much nothing you can do to stop it. What you can control is the organizational response to this, and you are 100% correct in that the response to it by the LP Schools seems to have broken laws. That is just scary. You have to send your kids to school until they are 16, and if you can't afford to send them to a private school, (if you live in the LP district) you are going to be forced to send them somewhere that seemingly protects child molesters over students. That is just wrong.

[bandaid19]

old boys' network... apparently, if you have a lot of Ws in the column, old girl's network too.

[Ang]

I so agree.....
What really disturbs me is the Head Coach pleading the 5th and possibly receiving immunity for her testimony. What exactly would she need immunity from?
My daughter is a LPCSC student and I am very concerned because of this. This situation makes home-schooling look a whole lot sweeter....