USA Swimming Sued for Coach Andy King's Sexual Abuse of Swimmers

The California sexual abuse law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard has filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against USA Swimming, Pacific Swimming, and San Jose Aquatics. The lawsuit results from the sexual molestation of young teenage females by San Jose Aquatics swim coach Andrew King. As the national governing body, USA Swimming is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competitions, including the Olympic Games.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Jane Doe, due to her age and the sensitive nature of the allegations. She confided to another individual that she was sexually abused and molested repeatedly over a 10 month period.

"District attorney investigators have allegedly identified 10 girls who have been sexually assaulted by King during his 30-year career as a swim coach," said Robert Allard, attorney for the victim. "Victims will bear and are bearing the lifetime scars of humiliation and emotional trauma brought on by King's alleged behavior."

The lawsuit claims that USA Swimming failed to conduct a proper background search on King at the time he was hired as the swim coach of San Jose Aquatics in December of 2000.

"If a proper background check had been conducted, USA Swimming would have discovered that in May of 2000 a 16-year-old girl reported to Oak Harbor, Washington police that she was sexually abused by King when she was 12 and 13," said Allard.

It was also widely reported that in 1997 King abruptly resigned as the Oak Harbor swim coach right before parks and recreation commissioners were to meet with him about allegations of inappropriate behavior with young female swimmers.

USA Swimming did not start requiring background checks until 2006.

“Why did they not conduct background checks on current employees?” asks Allard. “Are the background checks being done today comprehensive enough to ensure that another Andrew King does not end up coaching and exploiting young female swimmers again?”

As the national governing body for the sport of swimming in the United States, USA Swimming formulates the rules and implements the policies and procedures for approximately fifty-nine local swimming committees throughout the United States. Pacific Swimming, named in the lawsuit, is one of those 59 committees. Pacific Swimming has jurisdiction over several “member clubs” including defendant San Jose Aquatics. King effectively operated the San Jose Aquatics swim team and personally coached the highest-level teams and swimmers, having frequent and close day-to-day contact with young female swimmers.

King is currently facing criminal charges of fondling a young teenage girl he coached at San Jose Aquatics and with sexually abusing two other women he coached as teenagers.

If your child and your family has been victimized by a predator, contact a San Jose sexual abuse lawyer at Cerri, Boskovich & Allard by calling (408) 289-1417. You get aggressive legal representation starting with a free case evaluation. And you will never be obligated to pay a penny to our attorneys unless we collect.