NORTH CAROLINA SEXUAL ABUSE LAWYERS

North Carolina news publication, StarNews Online, reported that thirteen victims sued the school district that employed former teacher Michael Kelly. The victims allege that Kelly sexually abused these thirteen victims over twenty years. StarNews reported that the plaintiffs also amended their complaint to include an additional allegation that the school board violated the victims’ “fundamental right to a sound basic education,” which the state’s constitution provides for all students.

However, the central part of the complaint is that, as a direct result of the sexual abuse at the hands of Kelly, the men suffered emotionally, psychologically, and mentally. Some men did not finish their educations, some dropped out of school, and some are struggling to make ends meet to this day. The lawsuit further claims that the school district failed to protect these victims and continues to fail to help these victims seek justice.

In July of this year (2021), a former Western Carolina University student sued a former University Catholic ministry leader and the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. The Charlotte Observer reported that the student named Al Behm as the man who sexually abused him while he was at WCU in Cullowhee. The student claims that he knew Behm since he was a child in Connecticut as Behm was an ordained Catholic clergy member at the Ohio-based Glenmary Home Missioners religious order. The victim filed the lawsuit in Mecklenburg County Civil Superior Court, alleging that from approximately 1980 to 1984, Behm repeatedly sexually assaulted him when he would visit WCU as WCU’s first full-time Catholic campus minister. The victim states that the assaults caused such “severe emotional distress” that the student “was unable to graduate from college and experienced a significant delay in entering the workforce” full-time.

The diocese publicly admitted that child sexual abuse claims against Behm were credible. These claims were brought from the former student at WCU and Behm’s previous assignment in Kentucky. After WCU, others also brought credible claims against him in Tennessee.

Also, in July of this year, USA Today reported on North Carolina gym owner Nicholas Sweeney—whose victims accused him of taking inappropriate photos and making inappropriate comments toward his cheer athletes.

The USASF suspended Sweeney in January while the law enforcement investigation looked into his conduct with athletes. The investigation found that he took lewd photos of the athlete and told one cheerleader to take off her underwear when changing into her uniform. The USASF told parents that Sweeney is now prohibited from coaching athletes in the program.

However, more than a dozen times, parents emailed USASF and its investigator voicing concerns about Sweeney’s continued presence in the gym, sharing photos and videos as evidence. Sweeney denied any wrongdoing, and law enforcement closed its investigation without charges, saying no one had disclosed a crime. But Sweeney remained under USASF suspension.

In early August 2021, the USASF permanently banned Sweeney from the sport. Before being banned, he told USA TODAY that he was abiding by the terms of his suspension while continuing to be in the gym. “I stopped coaching all my teams. I stopped coaching classes. I have not done anything in the gym with any USASF athletes,” said Sweeney, adding that he has been coaching high school cheer teams in the gym. He did not respond to a request for additional comment about being banned by USASF. As of early August, his co-owner Darlene McNabb said Sweeney was in the process of selling his shares of the company to her in light of his permanent ban. She said he is no longer allowed in the gym under any circumstances.

The incident is one of many that point to failures to protect athletes across the national cheer community.