Federal lawsuit alleges sexual abuse at Raleigh Cheer Extreme gym

Lawyers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in Raleigh on behalf of a teen athlete who alleges sexual abuse by coaches at Cheer Extreme gyms in Raleigh and Kernersville.

The teen boy is represented by civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers, Jessica Fickling and Alexandra Benevento. The three lawyers also represent other plaintiffs in a half dozen cases against cheerleading gyms across the country.

"We want to eradicate the culture of sexual abuse that has been pervasive in this industry for decades," Benevento said.

The Post and Courier reported that a dozen defendants include Varsity Spirit, the U.S. All Star Federation, Bain Capital and USA Cheer. There are other lawsuits filed against All Star Cheerleading gyms in South Carolina and Tennessee.

“At this point, we are seeing a pattern,” Sellers said in announcing the Raleigh case. “These entities have every chance to protect their athletes from sexual predators but, until a family goes public and the information can no longer be shuffled to the side or into a file somewhere, they do nothing.

“It turns my stomach every time.”

According to the lawsuit, the teen reported the abuse to coaches at Cheer Extreme Raleigh at 1601 Garner Station Blvd., including to coach and director Chase Burris. However, the suit said nothing was ever done to stop it.

“[The] defendants … were engaged in the process of recklessly, intentionally and willfully endangering the plaintiff, a minor athlete, by exposing him to illegal substance abuse, sexual abuse and exploitation while assuring her and her family that defendants were providing safe conditions and premises for the athletes to compete,” the suit states.

The police were never notified, according to the suit.

The teen started cheering at the gym when he was 15, Benevento said. The suit claims when he was 15 or 16, an older male coach at Cheer Extreme Raleigh started a sexual relationship with the teen and pressured him to use cocaine.

The suit said multiple people at the gym knew about the relationship, including gym owners Kelly Helton and Randall Helton along with Burris and coach Shawn Wilson.

Also, the lawsuit states at an out-of-state competition, a different coach with Cheer Extreme Kernersville forced the teen to perform oral sex.

The gym, coaches and USA Cheer are being sued for accusations of failing to protect the boy from abuse.

“At the end of the day, we are talking about people charged with protecting children,” Fickling said. “We must ask what these entities did to protect these children, and how this type of abuse can occur if the system is designed for protection.”

The lawsuit also alleges that Cheer Extreme coaches and administrators were often present as one of the boy’s abusers would openly touch and caress him.

“From dismissing the abuse to protecting the abusers, Cheer Extreme Raleigh, Varsity Spirit, the USASF and Bain Capital have done their best to alienate and intimidate these survivors. But they failed,” Benevento said. “They are some of the bravest young men and women we’ve ever known and we won’t ever stop fighting for them.”

On Thursday, WRAL News reached out to Varsity Spirit with a request for comment but has not heard back.