Lawsuit: AD Allowed to 'Quietly Resign' After Abusing Athlete

A San Francisco high school athletic director who abused a student for years and groomed other minors was allowed to "quietly resign" without facing criminal consequences according to lawsuit filed Friday. 

The complaint alleges that George Washington High School athletic director abused a female student from 2012 to 2016, while also grooming other underage female athletes at the Richmond district school by buying them lunch, letting them drive his car during class hour, buying them gifts, stretching their legs and thighs and spending time with them on weekends. 

The San Francisco Standard withheld the defendant's name in its reporting of the matter because he had not yet been served with the complaint. 

The lawsuit claims that the defendant would ask the plaintiff's teacher to excuse her from class and then would escort her to the football locker room to sexually assault her before sending her back to class. The student's teacher thought the behavior was odd but took no action to report it, according to the lawsuit. 

The abuse began in 2012 and the plaintiff eventually reported the mater to the San Francisco Police Department, but nothing came of the complaint. It was at that point that the defendant was allowed to "quietly resign." 

The plaintiff’s attorney Lauren Cerri, of Corsiglia, McMahon & Allard, said the plaintiff spent the past several years trying to cope with the trauma of what happened to her. 

“Sexual abuse victims process the abuse over time,” Cerri said. “She’s still dealing with the repercussions as a result. She doesn’t want what happened to her to happen to anyone else.”