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In article <pZnPK.133354$
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governor.swill@gmail.com wrote:
All Democrat coach daughters are whores.
Former player alleges current Grand Terrace Athletic Director
Tiffany Gordon began sexually abusing him shortly after her
father, Harold Strauss, was hired in 2000
Near the end of the 2000 football season, a Colton High School
freshman team coach approached one of the varsity’s standout
players in the school’s football facility.
“Is it true?” the coach asked, according to the player.
“What?” the player responded.
“Is it true you’re doing Coach’s daughter?” the coach answered,
using a slang term for sexual intercourse, the player said.
“Yep,” the player said.
“And he was like ‘Damn!’ and walked away laughing,” the player
recalled.
The coach the assistant was referring to was Colton varsity head
coach Harold Strauss, then in his first season of a career that
would make him a revered figure in the community as the
architect of what has been described as Colton’s pipeline to the
National Football League.
His daughter is Tiffany Gordon, then Colton’s athletic trainer
and currently the athletic director at Grand Terrace High School
in the Colton Joint Unified School District.
The player is the first known alleged victim who Gordon sexually
assaulted, abused and molested with the knowledge of Harold
Strauss and other Yellowjacket coaches between 2000 and 2007,
according to court filings obtained by the Southern California
News Group.
In a series of interviews with SCNG and in court documents, 10
former Colton players allege that Gordon had sexual intercourse
with and performed oral sex on players who were between the ages
of 14 and 17 in the school’s locker room, training room,
bathrooms, weight room and football trailer as well as at her
parents’ house during weekly meetings between the coaches and
top players. One player alleged in an interview and the lawsuit
that Gordon had sex with him at least 50 times during his senior
year at Colton High, when he was 17.
In a lawsuit filed against Gordon and the CJUSD in San
Bernardino Superior Court on Friday and in an interview with
SCNG, the former player, identified as John Doe 7079 in court
filings, said he was sexually assaulted shortly after Strauss
and Gordon arrived on the Colton campus prior to the 2000
season. This began a three-month period in which Gordon
continued to sexually assault the player, then 17, at “Captains’
Dinners” for team leaders at Harold Strauss’ home, on a football-
related trip and in Gordon’s car while it was parked on the
Colton campus and other sites around Colton and Grand Terrace.
“What happened at Colton is simply inexcusable,” said Jemma E.
Dunn, an attorney for the former players. “The sheer number of
people who have come forward about Tiffany Gordon’s rampant
sexual misconduct demonstrates a systemic issue within the
football program and at the District.”
In an interview this week, John Doe 7079 was asked if he
struggled coming forward.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I don’t want to do this. I feel like I’m
the beginning. And the timeline of what I’ve seen of what
happened is horrifying and disgusting and it started with me.
And I’m a little afraid of, I think people are going to know
exactly who this is, but I live far away from there but I feel
like it needs to be said. This happened the moment she stepped
on campus and was only allowed to keep going and building and
get worse and then was promoted and who knows? And kind of
horrifying there’s probably more. Like we don’t know.”
He said he has never discussed Gordon’s alleged abuse with his
family – “My parents to this day still don’t know or won’t talk
about it” – but said he is coming forward in part to try to
change a pervasive attitude in sports culture where sexual
relations between older female coaches, trainers or teacher and
younger male players and students are often not seen as sexual
abuse but a rite of passage or source of pride for the boys. As
a result, the survivors are frequently viewed as heroes instead
of victims.
“These football programs need to see that these gender roles
don’t matter anymore,” John Doe 7079 said. “I’m just ready to be
a part of that, a change.
“This makes me so anxious just talking about this right now.”
Gordon is currently on a leave of absence, a school official
said. The CJUSD declined to say when Gordon was placed on leave
or whether she is being paid while on leave.
Gordon has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Her
attorney also did not respond to a request for comment. Gordon
has been interviewed by the Colton Police Department, according
to Paul Wallin, Gordon’s criminal defense attorney, and
previously confirmed to SCNG.
The CJUSD has hired a Sacramento law firm to conduct an
investigation into the allegations against Gordon. It is the
same law firm Mater Dei hired last year to investigate
allegations of bullying and other misconduct within the school’s
football and athletic programs.
“From the moment the District was presented with the
allegations, we immediately took decisive action by placing the
party in question on administrative leave, as well as contacting
the Colton Police Department,” the CJUSD said in a statement to
SCNG. “The District has made itself, and will continue to make
itself, completely available to the Colton Police Department.
The District is committed to ensuring that law enforcement has
access to all of the facts and information for their
investigation.
“Although the current administrative team members were not in
leadership roles with the District 20 years ago, the district
leadership team is extremely concerned about the allegations
being made. Our commitment is always to the safety and well-
being of our students, families and staff, and we will work with
local law enforcement to protect our community and lend our
support to any victims in this case.”
Harold Strauss died in December 2019 at the age of 60.
SCNG does not name the survivors of sexual abuse.
Harold Strauss was hired at Colton in the spring of 2000 after
spending two seasons coaching in Colton, Oregon. Strauss was
already well known in the Inland Empire, having coached
Bloomington Christian to six CIF title games, winning twice.
In his return to Southern California, Colton gained a national
reputation for sending Yellowjacket players to Power 5 college
programs and the NFL. Six players from Colton, a school with
less than 2,000 students, were on NFL rosters during the 2014
and 2015 seasons. A year later, 10 former Colton players were
invited to NFL training camps. Colton’s 2005 roster included six
future NFL players.
John Doe 7079 remembers Harold Strauss and Tiffany visiting the
Colton campus in April 2000. She was also at his side when the
Yellowjackets opened practice the following August.
“As the daughter of Colton High School’s highly influential and
prominent Head Coach and Athletic Director, Harold Strauss,
Gordon used her authority and role as the team’s trainer to gain
access to Plaintiff and numerous other student-athletes,”
attorneys for John Doe 7079 write in the most recent court
filing. “She took advantage of her position of influence,
authority, and power – given to her by CJUSD – to develop the
players’ trust and then to sexually assault, harass, and molest
them.
“Knowledge of Gordon’s misconduct with minors spread throughout
the football team, the players’ parents, and the team’s staff.
Despite rampant rumors surrounding Gordon’s misconduct, CJUSD
knowingly, intentionally, willfully, deliberately, negligently,
and/or recklessly allowed Gordon to continue working at the
school when she abused Colton High School’s varsity football
players. In doing so, Defendants fostered a pervasive and
hostile environment that utterly disregarded the rights and
safety of minor athletes who were entrusted to CJUSD. As a
result of CJUSD’s failure to even do the bare minimum – report
and investigate instances of sexual misconduct with minors –
Plaintiff and numerous other student-athletes suffered
humiliation, shame, guilt, and embarrassment as a result of the
system of abuse.
“Despite the extensive and pervasive abuse of these minor
students by Gordon, CJUSD not only continued to employ Gordon,
but even promoted her to Athletic Director at Grand Terrace High
School – another high school within its district. Thus, rather
than report or investigate the rampant sexual abuse of minors by
Gordon, CJUSD chose to reward it. In doing so, CJUSD thereby
emboldened her authority, ratified her conduct, and allowed her
to gain further access to other minors, solely for the
satisfaction of Gordon’s own prurient sexual desires.”
John Doe 7079 said Gordon performed oral sex on him in her car
early in the 2000 season. He said he was a virgin when Gordon
had sexual intercourse with him at Harold Strauss’ home after
the coach and his family hosted a “Captain’s Dinner.” Other
former Colton players have also alleged that Gordon had sex with
them during or after “Captain’s Dinners” at the Strauss home.
Gordon began having sex with John Doe 7079 on a regular basis,
the former player said, on Colton High School grounds. He
recalled sneaking out of his family home at night to meet Gordon
and have sex with her in nearby cul de sacs and “a construction
site building future sub-prime housing crash houses in Grand
Terrace.”
They also continued to have sex at the Strauss home.
“One moment that really stands out is I was leaving their
house,” John Doe 7079 said, “Tiffany was taking me home at like
1 in the morning, 2 in the morning, Coach Strauss, I encountered
him at the bottom of the stairs going to the front door and it
was very obvious, it was 2 in the morning or such and he said
‘Hey, (players name), I’ll see you in the morning’ or something
to that effect or ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ And at that moment I
was like ‘OK, the jig is up.’ Like you do know about this and
no, nothing really came of it.”
He was asked if Strauss ever said anything to him about the
encounter after that night or took any action?
“No,” the former player said. “Nobody did.”
Another former Colton player alleged in an interview and a
lawsuit filed earlier this year that Gordon was performing oral
sex on him in the locker room with the lights off on Halloween
2007 when Strauss entered the room.
“When Coach Strauss made his way through the locker room, he
confronted the two and asked why the lights were off,” the suit
said. “Gordon made excuses, claiming they were just cleaning up
and leaving.”
John Doe 7079 said he told Gordon he wouldn’t see her again
after the incident with the freshman coach.
“It’s like more of a slap on the back and then, ‘Holy
(expletive), man, are you all right? This is horrible and
(let’s) figure something out,’” he said recalling the freshman
coach’s reaction to his acknowledging Gordon had had sex with
him.
“‘All right, we need to be done,” John Doe 7079 recalled
thinking. “This is, you could feel people knew. People in the
program knew and the shame kind of builds, right? And it feels
like this could filter into my friends who aren’t on the
football team or teachers. The shame builds, right? It builds
and builds and builds and I’m pretty good at burying stuff. So
yep, we’re done here.
“I wanted to be a high school student and I was kind of living a
double life there and having this sexual relationship with this
person within the confines of this football program and trying
to have friends that were my age. Even a relationship with
another person. So the shame and the kind of embarrassment and
all that stuff was building as we went along. As football was
over, I was like, ‘I have to stop this.’ I had to get out.
“It was gross, it’s not normal and not OK.”
He told Gordon it was over on the day Yellowjacket players
cleaned out their football lockers.
“Leave me alone,” he recalled telling Gordon. “It was a rainy
day, one of the few. And that was it.”
He soon felt estranged from Strauss and the football program. He
thought he was good enough to play college football, but after
the break with Gordon, no one at Colton showed any interest in
helping him contact college recruiters. He lost interest in
school.
“Felt like it was pretty widespread, that everybody knew and
that caused me to have no contact with the football program,”
John Doe 7079 said, referring to awareness at the school about
Gordon having sex with him. “Coach Strauss, there was no
communication, my football life and whatever college prospects
and any powerhouse football things that followed, I definitely
wasn’t a part of. I was kind of done at that point.
“To be quite honest with you, they had portrayed themselves as
this Christian family and stuff like that and it all just felt
like bull (expletive),” he continued, referring to the Strauss
family. “You know it’s wrong. You’re a kid, it did come up when
we were kids, but I didn’t want it to be known and I wasn’t
super interested in school, ACT, SAT. I wanted to get away. I
wanted to grow up and go away and that’s what I did. School
stopped being school. It was like I’m somehow an adult now
because I was with an adult and acting like an adult, or I think
I am and now they don’t like me and I’m not supposed to be
around. It changed for sure.”
He worked for a while after high school before joining a friend
at a community college in the midwest and then graduating from a
four-year college in the region.
Today, he is a teacher and coach in the Midwest.
“Now I’m an actual teacher and in charge of young people and
it’s even more kind of sickening, what happened and thinking
about what happened after me and finding out what has happened
since me,” he said. “I coach. I’m in charge of young people and
families trust me and the people that are around me as teachers
to take care of them. Sometimes I can’t believe like it
happened. I can’t believe that it went on and it kept going and
it’s a part of my story and it’s really unfortunate.”
<
https://www.sbsun.com/2022/12/23/10th-former-colton-high-player- alleges-sexual-assault-by-ex-coachs-daughter/>
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