Shareece Wright says he has primarily fond recollections from his 4 years at Colton Excessive Faculty, aside from every time he was alone with a feminine athletic coach who occurred to be the pinnacle soccer coach’s daughter.
Wright alleges in a lawsuit that she started to groom him in 2002, when Wright was a 15-year-old freshman on the workforce and the coach was 21, and finally sexually abused him in school and at his coach’s house.
Wright, a former USC and NFL cornerback, is one in all 9 plaintiffs who’ve alleged that they had been sexually abused by athletic trainer Tiffany Strauss-Gordon whereas they had been minors enjoying for her father Harold Strauss’ Colton Excessive soccer workforce throughout the 2000s. The allegations have been made in two lawsuits filed in San Bernardino County Superior Courtroom.
Wright was one in all six plaintiffs within the first such lawsuit, which was filed in September 2022. Though he and the opposite plaintiffs in each had been listed as John Does, Wright lately grew to become the primary of them to publicly reveal his id.
“I used to be studying about how typically this occurs to youngsters and the way a lot is so swept underneath the rug and the way a lot individuals don’t come out and discuss it,” mentioned Wright, 36, who’s the daddy of two boys, ages 10 and a pair of. “And I used to be simply going by these completely different feelings and I simply felt like I needed to do extra to assist. … And I really feel like I used to be ready to have the ability to and I’ve a platform to have the ability to do this, to shine a light-weight on it. And I simply felt like if I didn’t say this and I didn’t come out then I’m form of doing the identical factor that everyone else is doing and I’m not serving to the trigger.”
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The lawsuits, which title Strauss-Gordon and the Colton Joint Unified Faculty District as co-defendants, allege that Strauss-Gordon “took benefit of her place of affect, authority, and energy — given to her by CJUSD — to develop the gamers’ belief after which to sexually assault, harass, and molest them.”
“These had been male soccer gamers, they had been recruited, they had been largely African American they usually had been from weak households,” mentioned legal professional Morgan Stewart, who represents Wright and 6 different plaintiffs within the lawsuits. “So that you’ve bought that combination of principally a faculty district utilizing these youngsters for their very own profit and performing like they’re not chargeable for something that occurred to them.”
Strauss-Gordon has denied all of the allegations in opposition to her in a number of court docket filings and through a 2022 police interview, as seen in a video published by ESPN. Strauss-Gordon’s legal professional, Daniel Kolodziej, additionally maintained his consumer’s innocence in an e mail to The Instances.
“Ms. Gordon denies these outdated allegations, already investigated and presumably rejected by regulation enforcement personnel, and can proceed to vigorously defend the joined lawsuits to attain a good disposition,” Kolodziej wrote. “The court docket of public opinion is not going to determine that final result, however she appreciates the continued assist from those that acknowledge her dedication to and substantial constructive contributions to the Colton Excessive Faculty group.”
Strauss-Gordon was athletic director at Grand Terrace Excessive when the primary lawsuit was filed. The Colton Joint Unified Faculty District instructed The Instances in an e mail that Strauss-Gordon is at present suspended with out pay pending the result of her self-discipline case.
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“From the second the District was introduced with the allegations, we instantly took decisive motion by inserting the occasion in query on administrative go away, in addition to contacting the Colton Police Division,” the varsity district mentioned in an announcement emailed to The Instances.
“The District has made itself, and can proceed to make itself, fully accessible to the Colton Police Division. The District is dedicated to making sure that regulation enforcement has entry to the entire details and data for his or her investigation.”
The San Bernardino County district legal professional’s workplace instructed ESPN it lacked enough proof to file fees in opposition to Strauss-Gordon. The D.A.’s workplace and the Police Division didn’t instantly reply to messages from The Instances.
“I can surmise and guess there have been statute issues by the point most of this got here out,” Stewart mentioned.
The Colton Joint Unified Faculty District has filed a cross-complaint in opposition to Strauss-Gordon and three corporations that supplied athletic trainers for the varsity district throughout the years talked about within the lawsuits.
“Though the present administrative workforce members weren’t in management roles with the district 20 years in the past, the district management workforce is extraordinarily involved in regards to the allegations being made,” the varsity district mentioned in its assertion. “Our dedication is at all times to the protection and well-being of our college students, households and workers, and we’ll work with native regulation enforcement to guard our group and lend our assist to any victims on this case.”
Wright, a 5-foot-11, 184-pounder, was a third-round draft choose for the Chargers in 2011. He additionally performed for the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Payments and Houston Texans earlier than his NFL profession ended after the 2018 season.
Earlier than all that, although, Wright was a standout operating again and defensive again at Colton Excessive. He mentioned he began receiving what appeared like particular remedy from Strauss-Gordon throughout his freshman season in 2002. The coach gave him the nickname “Sherry,” Wright mentioned, and displayed a protecting perspective towards him.
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Wright mentioned that he had heard rumors of inappropriate conduct between Strauss-Gordon and soccer gamers earlier than he entered Colton as a freshman. “I didn’t imagine it till it occurred to me,” he mentioned.
“The eye she confirmed me was completely different from everybody else on the time,” Wright mentioned. “I’m a freshman. I’m probably not understanding what’s happening, the grooming course of and all these issues. These are issues that I’m unaware of on the time, of how predators work.”
In line with the lawsuit, the connection regularly grew to become extra bodily, with Strauss-Gordon allegedly performing oral intercourse on Wright for the primary time the summer time after his sophomore 12 months. Whereas Wright was a junior, the lawsuit alleges, Strauss-Gordon carried out oral intercourse on him not less than 20 occasions and the 2 sneaked off to have vaginal intercourse not less than 15 occasions throughout weekly captain conferences on the coach’s home.
She would “sneak me into her room and, , it might occur there,” Wright mentioned.
Wright mentioned that Harold Strauss gave no indication he was conscious of the alleged relationship between his daughter and Wright.
“I don’t know the way he couldn’t have identified,” Wright mentioned of his outdated coach, who died in 2019. “I simply really feel like he simply form of like ignored it.”
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Wright mentioned he additionally had a sexual encounter with Strauss-Gordon on the home of an assistant coach whereas she was housesitting. Afterward, Wright mentioned, he instructed that coach and his spouse about what had occurred whereas they weren’t house.
“They form of like, , laughed about it,” Wright mentioned. “We had a bit of dialog about it, however it wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God!’ “
On the time, Wright mentioned, he did not understand how inappropriate the alleged relationship was .
“I didn’t consider it like, ‘Hey that is, like, completely damaging to me and it’s gonna have an effect on me sooner or later,’ ” Wright mentioned. “I’m not pondering sooner or later. I’m pondering of like proper now, of how good it felt each time it occurred, each time we’re having these interactions.”
Wright mentioned his alleged sexual relationship with Strauss-Gordon ended when he bought a girlfriend his senior 12 months, however that have ended up affecting him for years to come back.
“I’m in remedy now,” he mentioned, “making an attempt to assist myself understand and perceive what occurred and the way to deal with it and never run from it and never attempt to ignore the truth that this really occurred to me.”
“It’s simply the best way I’ve been feeling about girls typically and the respect that I’ve and my general outlook on sexual interplay, and simply me wanting again at it, ?” Wright added. “And me chasing that sexual sensation that I used to be feeling as a child when that was taking place and me looking for a girl that may make me really feel this manner. And I’m chasing this in several girls and simply probably not being keen to, like, settle with one lady and simply having ideas about what was taking place to me.”
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It wasn’t till his NFL profession was over, Wright mentioned, that he instructed his mom in regards to the inappropriate sexual relationship he allegedly had with an grownup whereas in highschool. Telling her, he mentioned, was a turning level for him.
“I had instructed adults previously and it was like a joke to them,” Wright mentioned. “Once I instructed my mother it was, like, severe. She didn’t giggle about it, she didn’t joke about it. She was damage and unhappy and she or he was disenchanted and she or he was upset. … And the best way she felt, it made me have a look at it in another way and simply really feel in another way about it. She simply made me give it some thought a bit of bit in another way. So that occuring and me having youngsters and being a father now, that form of led as much as me feeling like I needed to do one thing about it.”
Now, Wright mentioned, his focus is on serving to others in related conditions.
“I simply hope that I can encourage younger youngsters that that is taking place to talk up about it, to know that it’s not OK so that you can be having any sexual interplay with an grownup,” he mentioned, “Whether or not it’s somebody in your family or somebody at your college or somebody at work or no matter scenario you’re at, to know that it’s not OK. As a lot because it feels good or as a lot as you suppose it’s cool, it’s not. And it’s not wholesome. I simply need to encourage youngsters, to offer them the energy to have the ability to discuss it and to inform somebody that may assist them.”
This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Times.
