'Protecting athletes is not a priority': Expert on child sexual abuse prevention reacts to lawsuit filed against Raleigh cheer gym
A consultant who specializes in child sexual abuse prevention within sports organizations said she believes abuse at the local level can stem from policies of a national group.
Michelle Peterson spoke with WRAL News on Friday to discuss the federal lawsuit filed against Cheer Extreme Raleigh, the entire USA Cheer organization and select coaches.
“The priorities of protecting athletes is not a priority in that organization, and that kind of leads down to the smaller clubs,” Peterson said.
Peterson said families with children competing in all-star sports groups should never allow athletes to be alone with a coach.
“The biggest thing we know about a sexual predator being successful, in [more than] 80% of the cases, the coach has to be alone with the athlete,” Peterson said.
On Thursday, an anonymous man filed a lawsuit, claiming he was sexually abused by a coach at Cheer Extreme Raleigh when he was a minor. The plaintiff 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.
The suit said multiple people at the gym knew about the relationship, including Cheer Extreme Raleigh gym owners Kelly Helton and Randall Helton along with director Chase Burris and coach Shawn Wilson.
In response, Cheer Extreme Raleigh says it's been made aware of the lawsuit but hadn't received a copy as of Thursday night. The organization said it would be consulting with its attorney.
On Friday, Kelly Helton provided WRAL News with a written statement.
"It is impossible for us to respond to anonymous complaints," Kelly Helton wrote. "The safety of our athletes has been and always will be our first priority."
Another former athlete told WRAL News that, for years, while competing with Cheer Extreme Raleigh, she and other underage athletes were put in situations where they would be alone with older coaches.
“So, there was definitely an environment that actions could easily take place,” the former athlete told WRAL News.
The woman said many of the interactions happened on out-of-state trips with the gym. She said her time at Cheer Extreme Raleigh left her with emotional scars.
"There's no true adult supervision," she said. "I mean, you've got middle school, high school aged athletes hanging out with their young 20s coaches without any accountability."
The suit also lists the national USA Cheer organization as well as the cheerleading brand Varsity Spirit as defendants.
The lawsuit claims these organizations conspired to create a pipeline of young athletes to profit off of without protecting them from abuse.
In response to the lawsuit, USA Cheer Executive Director Lauri Harris said the group has and will continue to work with the cheer community to rid it of bad actors, and anyone with allegations of misconduct can use their safesport reporting system to get help.
A spokesperson for Varsity Spirit said, "We reject any accusation that Varsity Spirit enabled such unthinkable behavior. We are committed to supporting survivors and their pursuit of justice against those individuals responsible.”
WRAL News reached out to Cheer Extreme Raleigh on Friday for a response to the new claims about the potential for abuse, as well as all of the defendants in the case. We have yet to hear back.
