*** I've been emphasizing this for years, Talk To Your Children, don't assume anything.
US National swim coach Sean Hutchison
Former Olympic coach banned for sexual misconduct with world champion swimmer Ariana Kukors Smith when she was a minor
The U.S. Center for Safe Sport has banned former U.S. Olympic and USA Swimming national team coach Sean Hutchison from the sport for life after finding he engaged in sexual misconduct in a case involving World record-setting swimmer Ariana Kukors Smith when she was a minor, according to confidential Safe Sport rep documents obtained by the Southern California News Group.
The Safe Sport investigation found that Hutchison molested Kukors Smith, had her perform oral sex on him and took nude photos of her when she was still a minor, according to a Safe Sport findings and recommendation report.
“After a thorough investigation the U.S. Center for Safe Sport’s Response and Resolution Office finds, by a preponderance of the evidence that Responding Party Sean Hutchison violated the applicable policies as outlined in more detail in the Investigation Report, by digitally penetrating a minor, receiving oral sexual contact with a minor, and engaging in sexual intercourse all with an athlete whom he coached,” according to Safe Sport’s confidential Notice of Director’s Decision.
The investigation found that Hutchison began grooming Kukors Smith when she was 15 and 16 with “sexualized” communications that included requests to take nude photos of her and “asking if she was wearing underwear,” the report said.
Among Safe Sport’s other findings:
*Hutchison molested her at an August 2006 meet and again at both a California meet and the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships in British Columbia, one of the biggest swim meets in the world outside the Olympic Games and World Championships.
*Hutchison had Kukors Smth perform oral sex on him and took photographs of her showering when she was 17.
“Over the years, Hutchison took a large number of nude pictures of Kukors Smith while she was a minor,” the report said.
*Hutchison had sexual intercourse with Kukors Smith shortly after her 18th birthday while he was still her coach.
“The investigator recommends that the Center find by a preponderance of the evidence that Responding Party Sean Hutchison violated the Safe Sport Code by engaging in sexual misconduct with a minor athlete whom he coached,” according to the “conclusion” of the Safe Sport investigation report. “Hutchison’s acts all violated the applicable USA Swimming Code of Conduct, as he was Kukors’ coach during the entire time frame. In addition his acts more likely than not violated relevant statutes in Washington and California intended to protect minors from sexual misconduct by adults.”
Smith Kukors and her attorney Robert Allard declined comment.
Kukors Smith alleges that Hutchison, initially her coach at a Seattle-area club, began grooming her for a sexual relationship when she was 13, sexually assaulted her at 16, and continued to have a sexual relationship with her and exert control over almost every aspect of her daily life until she was 24.
Kukors Smith, the 2009 World 200-meter individual medley gold medalist, has filed a civil suit in Orange County Superior Court against Hutchison, USA Swimming, former U.S. national team director Mark Schubert, King Aquatic Club, Hutchison’s Seattle-area club, and Aquatic Management Group Inc, a company owned by Hutchison. The suit alleges top USA Swimming officials and coaches and others in the swimming community ignored and covered up Hutchison’s alleged sexual abuse.
Hutchison is currently under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security. Homeland Security along with local law enforcement conducted search of Hutchison’s apartment just south of Seattle in February. Officers seized computers and cell phones, according to persons familiar with the investigation.
Law enforcement agencies also conduced searches of warehouses connected to Hutchison and his businesses in California and Florida.
Hutchison has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing since Kukors Smith first went public with her allegations in February. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said the agency’s investigation of Hutchison “remains ongoing.” The FBI continues to conduct a forensic search of Hutchison’s computers and other devices, Allard said in a recent interview.
“I have not been given any information about what the government found on Sean’s devices, so I cannot answer that question,” Brad A. Meryhew, an attorney for Hutchison, said in an email referring to the federal investigation. “Sean will of course make himself available if the authorities ask him to. He is not fleeing anything. I am in regular contact with the government.”
Kukors Smith first swam for Hutchison at KING Aquatics just outside Seattle as a teenager.
The Safe Sport ruling is the latest step in the fall from grace for Hutchison, who less than a decade ago was considered American swimming’s brightest rising coaching star.
Hutchison was an assistant coach on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team after turning KING into a world class swim club. A year later he was named Team USA head coach for the World Championships in Rome where Kukors Smith twice lowered the 200 IM world record. Later in 2009 he was named coach of an elite U.S. national team training group in conjunction with the Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team that worked out at the Janet Evans Swim Complex. The group was one of three U.S. Olympic Committee Professional and Post-Graduate Training Groups.
Kukors Smith swam one year at the University of Washington before joining Hutchison at FAST.
The Safe Sport ruling comes seven months after Susan Woessner, USA Swimming’s director of Safe Sport, was forced out amid allegations she had a conflict of interest when she was involved with a sexual abuse investigation of Hutchison because of an alleged “intimately personal relationship” with the coach.
Woessner’s removal followed an SCNG investigation that found that Woessner, former USA Swimming executive director Chuck Wielgus and other top USA Swimming officials, board members and coaches were aware of sexually predatory coaches for years, in some cases even decades, but did not take action against them. In at least 11 cases either Wielgus or Woessner declined to pursue sexual abuse cases against high profile coaches even when presented with direct complaints, documents show.
Hutchison was investigated in late 2010 and early 2011 after USA Swimming officials, including Wielgus, were made aware of allegations in the fall of 2010 that he was romantically involved with Kukors Smith.
Hutchison was cleared of by USA Swimming in January 2011 after Kukors Smith denied the relationship during a brief telephone interview with a USA Swimming Safe Sport investigator.
USA Swimming said in a statement at the time of Woessner’s dismissal that she “recently provided USA Swimming with information regarding a personal interaction with coach member Sean Hutchison dating back to 2007. This interaction took place at a time when Woessner worked as the USA Swimming Times Database Coordinator. The incident in question did not conflict with any organizational rules prior to her subsequent position working in Safe Sport in 2010. Considering Woessner’s Safe Sport role, a disclosure of this interaction should have preceded an investigation involving Hutchison in December 2010.”
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