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Nicole Ross of the United States competes against Ariana Errigo of Italy in the women’s foil team bronze final at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Chiba, Japan, Thursday, July 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
(KRON) — A civil lawsuit was filed Wednesday against USA Fencing, alleging a coach sexually abused a Sunnyvale student when she was a minor. Coach Raad Rabie was arrested in 2021 and charged with oral copulation with a minor, but the charges were dropped during a preliminary hearing.
USA Fencing is the organization that selects the United States Olympic fencing team. The company is based in Colorado Springs, but also operates in Santa Clara County, where the lawsuit was filed.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff began training with Rabie in 2011 when she was 13 years old. He was hired by USA Fencing even though he was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a minor while coaching at Arizona State in 2002-2003.
The complaint alleges that while working at Sunnyvale, Rabie used his position of power to manipulate the victim. The two had a close relationship, and he gifted her with items such as her clothes and free private lessons.
According to the complaint, Rabie grabbed her hand, sat her on his lap, invited her to his apartment and told her he was going to marry her.
When the girl was 17 years old, Rabier began sexually assaulting her, the complaint states. She allegedly kissed her and touched her genitals. At a tournament in Virginia in October 2015, he “instructed[the victim]to take ‘medications’ before severely assaulting her,” according to the complaint.
After the victim turned 18, Rabie took her virginity, according to the complaint.
“Mr. Rabie knocked on the door of Plaintiff’s family home and declared to Plaintiff’s parents that he no longer had power over their daughter. From that point on, Rabie began a full-fledged sexual relationship with Plaintiff. This continued until March 2017.
and returned to university in Germany,” the lawsuit states.
The victim filed a formal complaint in February 2021, and the Sunnyvale Police Department began an investigation. He was arrested on July 7, 2021 and charged with two felonies in connection with the abuse. He is currently banned from the U.S. fencing world.
“Despite numerous abusive coach-athlete relationships, USA Fencing did not produce one.”
“There are no policies or procedures in place to ensure the safety of underage athletes,” the victims’ attorneys said in a press release.
According to the complaint, USA Fencing has a long history of coaches being accused of sexual assault. In 2019, it adopted a “formal athlete abuse prevention policy” that victims’ lawyers say could have prevented the abuse.
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