Former NFL participant Shareece Wright has recognized himself publicly as one in all 12 nameless plaintiffs who accused a former highschool athletic coach of sexually assaulting them whereas they had been minors attending a Southern California highschool, based on courtroom paperwork and interviews.
Wright not too long ago advised ESPN’s “Exterior the Strains” that he hopes talking out will “cease it from taking place to different youngsters.”
“The much less it is saved a secret, the more durable it’s for it to proceed to occur,” Wright mentioned.
Wright, 36, was one in all six former Colton Excessive College soccer gamers who initially sued the Colton Joint Unified College District and former athletic coach Tiffany Strauss-Gordon in September 2022. The variety of plaintiffs has since grown to 12.
Strauss-Gordon, suspended by the district since 2022, has denied allegations raised within the lawsuit and has not been criminally charged. She is the daughter of former Colton soccer coach Harold Strauss, who died in 2019. Strauss gained greater than 200 video games over three many years as a highschool coach. Underneath his tenure, the Colton crew turned a soccer powerhouse and a pipeline to the NFL. In 2011, three Colton gamers, together with Wright, had been chosen within the NFL draft, probably the most that 12 months from any highschool within the nation. Wright was drafted by the Chargers and performed within the NFL from 2011 to 2018 for six groups.
Wright advised ESPN, and alleged within the lawsuit, that he first acquired to know Tiffany Strauss, as she was then recognized, in 2002, throughout his freshman season at Colton. On the time, he was 15 and she or he was 21. He alleged that she turned more and more flirtatious, displaying favoritism towards him and giving him a pet nickname, habits he now acknowledges as grooming.
Over the subsequent three years, Wright alleged, Strauss-Gordon touched him inappropriately throughout remedy periods and carried out oral intercourse on him within the coaching room. Throughout his junior 12 months, when Wright was 17, he had a number of sexual encounters with Strauss within the coaching room, locker room and weight room, he advised ESPN. The lawsuit additionally says he had intercourse with Strauss throughout a number of weekly crew dinners at coach Harold Strauss’s house.
“You have acquired soccer, you’ve got acquired the coach’s daughter, you’ve got acquired a permissive faculty atmosphere the place it is allowed to occur. I imply, you’ve got acquired kind of an ideal storm of sexual abuse that may very well be lined up simply,” legal professional Morgan Stewart, who represents Wright and eight different plaintiffs, advised ESPN.
Based on an August 2022 police video, Strauss-Gordon was requested by a police detective why a number of males would make such allegations and responded: “Why do you file a lawsuit? For cash.”
“Basically, it’s important to keep in mind that allegations are simply allegations,” Strauss-Gordon’s legal professional, Daniel Kolodziej, advised ESPN. “I’d urge the general public to acknowledge that simply because there’s smoke doesn’t suggest there’s hearth.”
In California, the age of consent is eighteen and adults who interact in sexual exercise with minors could be prosecuted for statutory rape. The San Bernardino County District Legal professional’s workplace advised ESPN it didn’t file prices in opposition to Strauss-Gordon due to a scarcity of ample proof. The Colton Police Division didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Stewart advised ESPN that an FBI agent and a Division of Justice legal professional interviewed one in all his purchasers in April 2023 and had been “involved in regards to the statute of limitations,” however he does not know whether or not there may be an investigation.
The FBI declined to touch upon whether or not they’re investigating.
Wright advised ESPN that gamers and coaches brazenly joked about Strauss-Gordon’s habits and referred to oral intercourse as getting the “Tiffany remedy.”
“It was fairly open and apparent what was taking place,” mentioned one other plaintiff within the lawsuit who declined to be recognized. He mentioned he was conscious of encounters alleged by Wright whereas the 2 had been teammates.
After the lawsuits had been filed in 2022, the district positioned Strauss-Gordon on administrative go away from her job as athletic director at one other highschool. She stays suspended with out pay.
“From the second the District was introduced with the allegations, we instantly took decisive motion by inserting the get together in query on administrative go away, in addition to contacting the Colton Police Division,” the district advised ESPN in an announcement.
ESPN has obtained a police report indicating that faculty officers knew of allegations in opposition to Strauss-Gordon way back to 2011. In a 2022 interview that was prompted by the civil lawsuit, former highschool instructor Vladimira Chavez advised Colton police she had heard about alleged sexual habits in 2011 and had reported it to the district superintendent.
In a 2022 police interview, Strauss-Gordon mentioned she was positioned on non permanent go away in 2011 throughout an inside investigation however was allowed to return to work after a gathering with faculty officers. She mentioned she was by no means advised the specifics of any allegations in opposition to her.
“It was like nothing,” she mentioned. “We had the assembly after which that was it. It was like, return to work.”
John Manly, one other legal professional on Wright’s case, mentioned the district “did their very own investigation, which is the precise reverse of what you are speculated to do.”
“Folks in their very own establishments hardly ever discover themselves responsible,” Manly mentioned. “Your responsibility is to report, not examine.”
Katie Orloff, a district spokesperson, declined to explain the 2011 inside investigation.
“The present district management crew was first made conscious of the allegations by means of a grievance obtained on July 7, 2022, and instantly took decisive motion and contacted the Colton Police Division,” Orloff mentioned. “We can not converse to choices made in 2011 as a result of the district presently has a unique management crew.”
Wright mentioned he started to return to phrases together with his previous solely three years in the past when he advised his mom about what had occurred throughout highschool.
“She was like, ‘Son, why you did not inform me?’ I am similar to, ‘Ma, I did not know. I did not know the way,'” Wright mentioned.
He mentioned it was his mom’s response and considerations about his personal sons, ages 9 and a pair of, that led him to talk publicly.
“Being a dad and having youngsters and having nieces and nephews which can be going to public faculties, it simply hit house,” Wright mentioned. “I simply wish to make the dialog snug for individuals to talk up about.”
