Corsiglia, McMahon & Allard Files Childhood Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District & Form...
26 Enero 2021 - 12:00PM
Business Wire
Lawsuit alleges that the school placed the reputation of its
award-winning track team ahead of victimized track athletes
The Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District and two former
track coaches are being sued by a former student who says Los Gatos
High School allowed Chioke “Chee” Robinson to sexually abuse her
for more than three years, starting when she was a freshman on the
Girls’ Track Team.
The lawsuit, filed today in Santa Clara County Superior Court,
identifies the student as Jane Doe. It states that starting at age
14, she was subjected to “grooming” behaviors that predators use to
gain a victim’s trust. By the time she was 15, Robinson was kissing
her and forcing her to touch his genitals. The abuse progressed,
with Robinson often engaging in oral sex and intercourse with her
in the high school’s track and field shed.
The complaint alleges that the sex crimes occurred on school
grounds from 1999 until 2001 and continued until the victim turned
18 years old.
The civil lawsuit also names former Los Gatos High School head
track coach Willie Harmatz as a defendant.
The lawsuit states that Harmatz had been notified early on about
Robinson’s predatory behavior by another student, who transferred
to Los Gatos High to escape Robinson’s sexual misconduct at another
school. It also states that on two separate occasions, Harmatz is
alleged to have threatened two student-athletes if they cooperated
with the police.
Los Gatos police began investigating Robinson when Jane Doe’s
mother called police after finding a discarded pregnancy test in
her daughter’s trash can along with sexually explicit love letters
written by Robinson. However, the lawsuit claims that Harmatz
impeded the investigation by threatening to make a
student-athlete’s career difficult if she didn’t stop “lying” about
Robinson.
Immediately following the investigation, according to the
lawsuit, when the same student who transferred to Los Gatos to get
away from Robinson told Coach Harmatz that she was going to report
both her abuse and corroborate her teammate’s abuse to the police,
Harmatz threatened to make her promising athletic career
difficult.
The complaint also states that when the Los Gatos High School
principal informed Harmatz that she intended to immediately
terminate Robinson in light of the police investigation, he
protested enough that the principal relented and decided to let
Robinson off with a warning to use “common sense” in the
future.
“The school district held nothing back in its zeal to protect a
storied track program,” attorney Robert Allard said. “To think that
a track coach was allowed to suppress evidence in a childhood
sexual abuse investigation to the point of silencing two critical
witnesses so that his pedophile assistant could keep getting access
to children is absolutely terrifying.”
The scandal exploded in April of 2001 when the high school
newspaper, El Gato, reported that Robinson had been “abruptly
dismissed” for “poor judgment.” Harmatz once again openly defied
this decision, telling the newspaper that Robinson would
nevertheless continue to coach on-campus practices “every single
day.”
Robinson was arrested in February 2019 by the San Jose Police
Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and
charged with sexually assaulting four girls, including Jane
Doe.
Mr. Allard concluded, “This case cries out for justice. By
allowing a coach to cover up for one of his assistants, the high
school gave Robinson the “green light” to continue abusing girls –
leaving a legacy of carnage.”
Victims of Los Gatos High School sexual abuse are asked to
contact the law firm. All communications are 100% confidential.
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Ed Vasquez at 408-420-6558 or by email:
ed@ejvcommunications.com