At first he dismissed the speak as simply rumors, the wishful pondering of highschool soccer gamers and their raging hormones and overactive teenage imaginations.
It was fall 2005 and the participant had simply labored his method into the beginning lineup at Colton Excessive College when he started to listen to his teammates discuss standout gamers receiving “particular remedy” of a sexual nature from the college’s athletic coach Tiffany Gordon, the daughter of the Yellowjackets legendary head coach Harold Strauss, the architect of what has been described as Colton’s pipeline to the Nationwide Soccer League.
The gamers, in line with court docket filings and interviews, even had a reputation for the apply: “getting spatted.”
A season later the participant, by now one of many space’s prime faculty prospects, was within the college’s coaching room ready for Gordon to deal with a leg harm.
“Are you able to be a celebrity?” Gordon requested as she massaged his leg, in line with court docket paperwork.
She then proceeded to fondle his genitals, in line with a court docket submitting.
The participant was 16 on the time.
In a sequence of interviews with the Southern California Information Group and a lawsuit filed in opposition to Gordon and the Colton Joint Unified College District in San Bernardino County Superior Court docket, six former Colton gamers allege Gordon sexually assaulted, abused and molested them with the information of Strauss and different Yellowjackets coaches over a six-year interval between 2001 and 2007.
The interviews and court docket submitting element allegations of how Gordon routinely had sexual activity with and carried out oral intercourse on gamers who have been between the ages of 14 and 17 within the college’s locker room, coaching room, loos, weight room and soccer trailer in addition to at her mother and father’ home throughout weekly conferences between the coaches and prime gamers. One participant alleged in an interview and the lawsuit that Gordon had intercourse with him a minimum of 50 occasions throughout his senior yr at Colton Excessive, when he was 17.
“The sheer quantity of oral copulation and sexual activity occurring between Gordon and the minor student-athletes was not insignificant, and Defendants knew or ought to have identified of the blatant sexual misconduct occurring between Gordon and” the gamers, the go well with alleges.
A former participant, referred to within the lawsuit at John Doe 7044, recounted in an interview and a court docket submitting how a Colton assistant coach walked into the college’s locker room whereas Gordon was performing oral intercourse on the participant.
“This coach didn't cease the assault however reasonably, instantly left the room,” the lawsuit alleges.
Gordon was performing oral intercourse on a participant recognized as John Doe 7046 within the locker room with the lights off on Halloween 2007 when Strauss entered the room, in line with interviews and the lawsuit.
“When Coach Strauss made his method by the locker room, he confronted the 2 and requested why the lights have been off,” the go well with mentioned. “Gordon made excuses, claiming they have been simply cleansing up and leaving.”
Through the 2005 season, a photograph depicting Gordon performing oral intercourse on a person was extensively circulated amongst Colton Excessive varsity gamers who believed the opposite individual within the photograph was considered one of their teammates, in line with the lawsuit.
“It was later decided that the photograph really depicted Gordon orally copulating one other Colton Excessive College coach. This occasion made it clear that Gordon’s sexual misconduct was pervasive and definitely not secretive,” in line with the lawsuit.
“What occurred at Colton Excessive College is unacceptable,” mentioned Brian Williams, an legal professional for the alleged survivors. “Whereas in school, college students are entitled to really feel protected and should be protected. College officers have an obligation to safeguard children from sexual misconduct, and report any suspicious or improper conduct. None of that occurred on this state of affairs and the time has come to carry these concerned accountable.”
Gordon is now the athletic director at Grand Terrace Excessive College within the CJUSD. “She went from a spot of energy to extra energy,” John Doe 7042 mentioned. She is at present on a depart of absence, a faculty official mentioned. She didn't reply to a number of requests for remark. The CJUSD declined to say when Gordon was positioned on depart or whether or not she is being paid whereas on depart.
The CJUSD has employed a Sacramento regulation agency to conduct an investigation into the allegations in opposition to Gordon. It's the similar regulation agency that Mater Dei employed final yr to analyze allegations of bullying and different misconduct inside the college’s soccer and athletic packages.
“From the second the District was introduced with the allegations, we instantly took decisive motion by putting the social gathering in query on administrative depart, in addition to contacting the Colton Police Division,” CJUSD spokesperson Katie Orlof mentioned in an announcement. “The District has made itself, and can proceed to make itself, utterly out there to the Colton Police Division. The District is dedicated to making sure that regulation enforcement has entry to the entire info and data for his or her investigation.
“Though the present administrative staff members weren't in management roles with the District 20 years in the past, the district management staff is extraordinarily involved in regards to the allegations being made. Our dedication is all the time to the security and well-being of our college students, households and employees, and we are going to work with native regulation enforcement to guard our group and lend our assist to any victims on this case.”
Beneath California regulation costs for misdemeanor statutory rape should be filed inside one yr, three-years for felony statutory rape.
SCNG doesn't title the survivors of sexual abuse.
The lawsuit was filed within the three-year window created by Meeting Invoice 218, which was signed into regulation by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 and went into impact January 1, 2020.
Beneath the brand new regulation, alleged survivors have a three-year interval to file previous claims that had expired underneath the state’s statute of limitations.
Alleged survivors should file civil fits inside eight years of changing into an grownup or three years from the date an grownup survivor “discovers” or ought to have found they have been sexually abused, underneath present California regulation.
Two units of guidelines
Interviews carried out earlier this month with the previous Colton gamers and court docket filings painting a football-obsessed college and a group extra involved about success on the gridiron and a nationwide popularity as a launch pad to the NFL than the security and psychological well being of a number of the similar gamers who put Colton on the radar of school coaches and professional scouts.
“They wished our staff to win titles and (expletive) and never make waves,” a former participant, referred to within the lawsuit as John Doe 7042, mentioned in an interview.
At Colton Excessive, the gamers mentioned, there appeared to be two units of guidelines: one for Strauss, Gordon and the Yellowjackets soccer program and one other, way more strict, set for everybody else on the college.
“It was just like the soccer program was greater than the college,” John Doe 7044 mentioned in an interview.
Gamers and coaches talked brazenly on an nearly day by day foundation about Gordon having intercourse with gamers, the previous gamers alleged in interviews and within the lawsuit.
The “CJUSD, by its teaching employees, knew, tolerated, inspired, and sanctioned Gordon’s conduct,” the go well with alleges.
Coaches, like gamers, even joked about Gordon’s intercourse abuse, the gamers mentioned in interviews and court docket filings.
The time period “spatted,” referring to the apply of taping a participant’s ankle over his sneakers both for assist or type, took on a brand new which means at Colton. As gamers and coaches lined as much as get into the coaching room or locker room they wisecracked that they have been ready to get “spatted,” their phrase for receiving sexual favors from Gordon, in line with interviews and the lawsuit.
John Doe 7046 recalled standing consistent with an assistant coach who cracked that the participant was “getting spatted” earlier than him, in line with the lawsuit.
“It grew to become like a working joke,” John Doe 7044 mentioned. “We weren't solely victimized however we grew to become the butt of a joke.”
The previous gamers in interviews and the lawsuit additionally shine mild on the nonetheless pervasive, if considerably dwindling, cultural double normal of how the sexual abuse of underage males by females in positions of authority is considered otherwise than males sexually abusing ladies or boys.
“This can be a essential story,” mentioned David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes In opposition to Youngsters Analysis Heart on the College of New Hampshire.
20 years after they first encountered Gordon, the previous gamers mentioned their lives continued to be impacted by what allegedly happened within the Colton Excessive locker and coaching rooms. They've been hounded by points with authority, belief, intercourse, and intimacy. They've suffered from melancholy.
Some gamers have been immune to having relationships with ladies. Others mentioned their views on intercourse and their belief points have undermined marriages and long run relationships. One former participant mentioned most of his intimate relationships have been with older ladies. One other former participant mentioned he was so distrusting of authority figures in secluded settings that he by no means as soon as visited a professor in faculty throughout workplace hours.
“It actually modified how we checked out intercourse,” mentioned John Doe 7044. “To us, this is rather like a sport, we’re not connecting, simply looking for one of these feeling.”
Many of the gamers mentioned they're at present in remedy to take care of points associated to their interactions with Gordon.
As they attempt to navigate their previous they're annoyed by the reactions of a lot of their former Colton teammates in addition to former coaches, mates and different individuals near the Yellowjackets program. Teammates who have been envious and joked about Gordon and the gamers 20 years in the past nonetheless proceed to miss out on the hurt in a feminine authority determine allegedly offering standout gamers sexual favors, the previous gamers mentioned.
“My greatest frustration,” mentioned John Doe 7045. “I’m bored with the narrative of ‘Oh, you have been boys, you knew what you have been doing. It’s OK.’
“It’s not OK. It’s unsuitable. If I’m the (athletic director) is it OK if I do that to some lady on the college?” Doe 7045, who like 5 of the gamers is Black, continued. “No, they might put me underneath the jail.
“However as a result of I used to be a boy and she or he was a lady it’s, ‘Oh, no large deal.’ No, it's a large deal. It’s not OK for teenagers to should undergo it.”
It's a mindset not restricted to Colton, specialists mentioned.
“It's accepted by many individuals,” mentioned Charol Shakeshaft, a Virginia Commonwealth College researcher and professor, who in 2004 printed Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Current Literature for the U.S. Division of Schooling.
“The belief relies on the stereotype that every one boys care about is intercourse and that any form of intercourse is okay after which what’s the hurt? It’s what they wished anyway and it’s based mostly on the stereotype of boys of hormones in overdrive and what’s the large deal right here? And the large deal is that this isn’t about intercourse in any respect. That is about betrayal and energy. And it’s in regards to the betrayal of an individual, on this case college students, by an individual who has energy over them and for them, to assist them. They usually’re supposed to have the ability to really feel protected across the adults in faculties and athletics and to have these adults looking for his or her greatest pursuits and it is a betrayal of the belief they've in adults.”
The previous gamers and their attorneys preserve in interviews and the lawsuit the cultural acceptance at Colton Excessive College, particularly inside the soccer program, enabled Gordon’s alleged predatory conduct.
“Traditionally, it has been straightforward for society to downplay the facility of a feminine intercourse assault perpetrator over boys. In actuality, we all know the facility of a feminine predator is especially insidious and harmful to kids,” mentioned Mike Reck, an legal professional for the alleged survivors. “The alleged perpetrator right here leveraged her place of energy over these boys to choreograph her personal wicked needs upon them. Not solely did she rely on the cultural strain on teenage boys to by no means flip down intercourse, Ms. Strauss-Gorden was instilled with the institutional authority of Colton Excessive College’s athletic division and its revered soccer coach, her father. She gained intimate bodily entry to the boys by her place as athletic coach and performed their innocence, their hormones, and their love of soccer in opposition to them. Level clean, these boys by no means stood an opportunity and the one grownup who was most supposed to guard these athletes most was the daddy of the offender.”
Harold Strauss, an enormous man with an excellent greater grin, was a larger-than-life determine at Colton.
“He ran it,” John Doe 7042 mentioned. “He ran the present. He had say over something and all the pieces.”
Strauss coached highschool soccer in Oregon and Washington earlier than returning to Bloomington, an unincorporated part of San Bernardino County the place he grew up. He coached 18 seasons at Bloomington Christian successful a pair of CIF Southern Part titles
But it surely was at Colton the place he actually put his program on the nationwide map.
Season after season the Yellowjackets received working Strauss’ gimmick single wing and double wing offenses gleaned from the a long time outdated playbooks and Rose Bowl tapes he discovered on-line, and with a gradual stream of expertise headed to Energy 5 convention faculties and the NFL.
Strauss saved a map of the U.S. behind his workplace desk. Pins on the map represented the locations his athletes had performed.
Usually these pins landed in locations like New York, Baltimore, Kansas Metropolis and the NFL. Six gamers from Colton, a faculty with lower than 2,000 college students, have been on NFL rosters throughout each the 2014 and 2015 seasons. A yr later, 10 former Colton gamers have been invited to NFL coaching camps. Colton’s 2005 roster included six future NFL gamers.
Strauss, who died at age 60 in December 2019, as soon as instructed the Inland Empire Group Information he considered his gamers as household.
“Coaches are like psychologists,” he mentioned. “You get into your participant’s lives like a mother or father. After they harm, I harm.”
However Strauss wasn’t there for the gamers after they wanted him most, the previous gamers and their attorneys mentioned.
“If the genders have been reversed, the response could be undoubtedly totally different,” mentioned Jemma Dunn, an legal professional for the alleged survivors. “This isn't solely unfair, however fails to acknowledge the damages brought about and silences male survivors. These males have been of their most formative adolescent years and will have been capable of belief these in authority; each their coach who, as an grownup, took benefit of their adolescence, and the coaches and employees round them, who inspired it. The regulation doesn't distinguish between genders and neither ought to we. They deserved higher.”
Tiffany Gordon joined her father at Colton shortly after he took over as head coach in 2000.
Gordon had a bachelor’s diploma in kinesiology from Cal State San Bernardino and a grasp’s in training and a instructing credential from the College of Phoenix, in line with the CJUSD.
However Gordon’s main credential, the previous gamers mentioned, was that she was Harold Strauss’ daughter.
“Tiffany actually had carte blanche over this system,” John Doe 7042 mentioned. “She had a variety of authority.”
Whereas every little one intercourse abuse case is exclusive, researchers have been capable of develop profiles of sure varieties of little one predators.
“Some abusers we don’t know why or how are form of hardwired to sexual curiosity in kids or 8-year-olds or in blondes or in no matter and so we name these individuals pedophiles despite the fact that that’s not an correct title,” mentioned Shakeshaft, talking on the whole. She declined to talk on the specifics of the Colton case. “But it surely has to do with what their focus is.
“An opportunistic abuser is somebody who takes benefit of a state of affairs. They might not be notably a method or one other in highschool boys per se however takes benefit of a state of affairs the place they've entry to children and they can by attraction, persuasion, no matter get them concerned in a sexual act.
“Fairly often the adults who sexually abuse highschool children should not preferential abusers. They’re opportunistic abusers. They only benefit from no matter state of affairs comes about.“
Gordon not solely had alternative, the previous gamers and their attorneys allege in interviews and the lawsuit, she additionally used her place as coach and as Strauss’ daughter as leverage in pursuing sexual acts with the minor-aged boys.
“There isn't any actual distinction than if it was a trainer or a priest or anyone in authority,” mentioned intercourse therapist Stephen Braveman, a number one professional on the sexual abuse of boys by grownup ladies. “When any individual in authority they’re alleged to hearken to them and do what they're instructed and it’s exhausting to say no even after they suppose one thing is just a little unsuitable about this.
“She’s a coach and she or he’s coaching them how to achieve success and win and all. For those who may be good at intercourse you may be good (at sports activities).
“The facility dynamic is certainly there.”
John Doe 7042 was Gordon’s first alleged sufferer, in line with the lawsuit.
He was first launched to Gordon as a freshman in 2001 when he was promoted to the varsity of the CIF playoffs.
“Beneath the guise of offering medical remedy and bodily remedy, Gordon took benefit of John Doe 7042 throughout therapies and sexually assaulted him by repeatedly brushing her hand in opposition to John Doe 7042’s groin and penis,” in line with the lawsuit.
The participant was 14 on the time.
“I used to be taken again by it as a result of it was ahead as hell,” the participant mentioned.
Gordon’s abuse escalated to fondling and performing oral intercourse on the participant till weeks later he returned to the locker room throughout apply to retrieve gadgets from his locker. Gordon was within the locker room and the pair had intercourse “whereas his teammates have been training,” in line with the lawsuit.
“It was like I used to be placed on a freeway within the unsuitable path,” the participant mentioned. “Placed on the freeway and I didn’t actually have a license.”
As soon as Doe 7042 was sleeping in a van carrying him and his teammates to a soccer camp in Oregon when he awoke to seek out Gordon performing oral intercourse on him, in line with the lawsuit.
“I awakened shocked,” he mentioned.
But when his teammates seen nobody mentioned something.
“It wasn’t out of the extraordinary,” Doe 7042 mentioned.
Gordon continued to have intercourse with the teenager by the rest of his highschool profession.
“On the time I used to be, ‘It’s cool,’ since you have been alleged to really feel prefer it was cool,” the participant mentioned. “But it surely positively didn’t really feel prefer it was alleged to be occurring.”
John Doe 7047 was launched to Gordon by John Doe 7042.
Doe 7047 was promoted to varsity as a sophomore in 2001. It was throughout this time that he started receiving common remedy and remedy from Gordon “within the unsupervised areas” of the locker and coaching rooms, in line with the lawsuit.
“As John Doe 7047 excelled in his athletic expertise, John Doe 7047’s interactions with Gordon grew to become extra frequent,” the lawsuit mentioned.” Gordon grew to become more and more flirtatious, displayed outward favoritism, began inappropriately touching and fondling John Doe 7047’s genitals on CJUSD property.”
The next yr, when Doe 7047 was 16, Gordon started having intercourse and oral intercourse with the participant within the coaching room and at her dwelling, a sample that continued all through his time at Colton Excessive, in line with the go well with.
“Nearly instantly” after transferring to Colton within the fall of 2003, John Doe 7043 started listening to rumors of inappropriate sexual misconduct between Gordon and different minor student-athletes, in line with the go well with.
“On one event, John Doe 7043 walked into the coaching room, abruptly startling Gordon and John Doe 7047, a star participant of the Yellowjackets, who gave the impression to be in a compromising place,” the lawsuit mentioned.
Later that season Gordon took Doe 7043 on a date to an area drive-in theater. She started kissing the participant, who was 17 on the time, after which carried out oral intercourse on him within the backseat of her automotive, in line with the lawsuit.
She would later have sexual activity with the participant at totally different areas on the college and her father’s home in the course of the weekly “Captains’ Dinners” between the staff’s captains and the teaching employees, the lawsuit mentioned.
John Doe 7044 additionally began listening to rumors about Gordon’s alleged sexual misconduct shortly after enrolling at Colton Excessive in 2002.
“It was simply the atmosphere and throughout it that was tremendous sexually charged.”
Throughout a Captains’ Dinner his senior yr he mentioned he witnessed Gordon “disappear” with one other participant. Shortly thereafter Doe 7044 despatched her a textual content confronting her about having oral intercourse with gamers, he mentioned.
“I used to be anticipating her to go scorched earth on me,” Doe 7044 recalled. “As an alternative of shutting it down she mentioned ship me a photograph of your penis.”
Gordon responded by texting the participant a nude photograph of herself with the message that they wanted “to maintain this” the following day, in line with the lawsuit.
The next day Gordon gave Doe 7044 a therapeutic massage for the primary time and when the locker room was empty carried out oral intercourse on him.
The participant was 17 on the time and had not been sexually lively he mentioned. However shortly after the primary encounter, he and Gordon have been having intercourse “nearly day by day,” the previous participant mentioned.
The previous participant mentioned he thought Gordon would assist him by ensuring the teaching employees talked about him to school coaches. “She would be certain they despatched movie out, known as these coaches. As an alternative, I used to be getting Jerry Sanduskyed,” the previous participant mentioned, referring to the previous Penn State assistant coach who was convicted for molesting boys. A few of Sandusky’s sexual abuse happened within the Penn State locker room.
“The main focus was shifted from figuring out to looking for locations to have intercourse with Tiff,” Doe 7044 continued.
When rumors about Gordon and the participant having intercourse began spreading throughout his senior yr, Gordon instructed him to alter the title connected to her phone quantity on his mobile phone and put a photograph of an African American lady on the contact web page, the previous participant mentioned.
Gordon started fondling John Doe 7045 throughout remedy his freshman season, in line with the lawsuit. Throughout his junior season, Gordon had intercourse with him 20 occasions, in line with the lawsuit. Gordon continued to have intercourse with Doe 7045 throughout his senior season together with at Captains’ Dinners wherein she “would commonly pull” him apart to have “unprotected intercourse in her bed room” at her mother and father’ home, the lawsuit alleged.
Doe 7045 mentioned his interactions with Gordon formed how he considered intercourse and relationships.
“It felt regular to have intercourse and never have a relationship and suppose it’s OK to have intercourse and never textual content them or speak to them till you need it once more,” the participant mentioned.
Realizing it was not regular
However over time, the previous gamers mentioned they started to appreciate that their interactions with Gordon weren't regular. A few of them might need bragged about having intercourse with Gordon or high-fived teammates after allegedly getting spatted. However as they struggled of their relationships, of their marriages, had points with their bosses, had belief points with nearly anyone in authority, they started to see what occurred in highschool in a distinct mild.
“At the moment it may not look like an issue,” Braveman mentioned. “How may or not it's abuse? If nothing occurs they simply transfer on, they graduate, no person ever says something about it. Years later they might not suppose something of it till they've children and of the identical age after which they go, ‘Oh, that’s how outdated I used to be. Oh my god, I used to be victimized at that age.’
“If nothing else, society says it’s in opposition to the regulation. In order that they have been victims. A regulation was damaged they usually have been victims. And then you definately get again to your niece, your nephew, your son, would you need this to occur to them? They’re a sufferer, whether or not they felt victimized or not.”
Doe 7045 was in a sociology class in faculty. Intercourse abuse was a part of the course’s focus.
“That’s after I realized I used to be molested,” the previous participant mentioned. “I used to be like ‘dang, that feels rather a lot like what occurred to me.’
“That’s after I understood what occurred to me wasn’t proper. It form of dawned on me in faculty that this stuff change children and the way they take care of the world.”
However for essentially the most half, the previous gamers saved their emotions to themselves.
“It’s one factor for this to be with a Mrs. Robinson subsequent door,” Finkelhor mentioned. “However when you may have a non secular authority determine, a honored college trainer, it is a coach, a physician, all these roles complicate the issue. They make it more durable to speak about, to kind it out.
“And lots of people don’t need you to speak about it. You will be upset that you simply’re speaking about this revered individual.”
Finally, they started speaking about their highschool experiences in remedy.
“It was a large number of issues,” Doe 7042 mentioned. “Relationships, my insecurities with how I used to be interacting with different individuals in relationships.
“A part of the explanation I needed to go to remedy was as a result of this pretend porn (intercourse) despatched me into actual life with no actual expertise.”
Doe 7042, like his teammates, hoped Gordon would acknowledge that what allegedly happened 20 years in the past was unsuitable.
A couple of yr and a half in the past, Doe 7042 visited Gordon at Grand Terrace Excessive College.
“I wished to see if she had any regret,” he mentioned. “I went there underneath the guise of whether or not there have been any teaching jobs at Grand Terrace. I talked about it in remedy. I used to be on the lookout for some type of closure or one thing that made me really feel much less like (expletive) and I acquired simply the alternative.”
Gordon, the previous participant mentioned, confirmed no regret.
“Be a human being towards one other human being,” he mentioned, “and never simply deal with them as a bit of meat.”
Finally it was Doe 7042’s son who prompted him to step ahead and speak in regards to the case publicly. His son is 10 years outdated. In 4 years he will likely be a 14-year-old freshman at Grand Terrace Excessive College, the identical age his father was when he encountered Gordon.
“A big a part of that is for it to cease, to alter the longer term, to alter the tradition,” he mentioned. “I take into consideration my son. It has to cease. My adolescence was taken from me. My childhood was taken. I used to be a child.
“I used to be taken benefit of as a child. I used to be damaged, had my legs taken out from beneath me and it’s taken a very long time to face once more.”