Top swimming coach Rick Curl had sex with teen swimmer for more than three years and paid her parents $150k to stay silent

Mike Gallagher

Jul 26, 2012 - 09:35

Jul 26, 2012 - 10:51

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Top swimming coach Rick Curl had sex with teen swimmer for more than three years and paid her parents $150k to stay silent

Alleged victim: Kelley Currin, right, accused swimming coach Rick Curl, left, of sexually abusing her when she was 13 until she was 16

While the team prepares for its first Olympic event in London, USA Swimming is facing its own challenges stateside after a former member has accused one of its coaches of sexual abuse.

An investigation is underway into Washington-area swim coach Rick Curl amid the allegations he had a long-term affair with an underage swimmer in the 1980s.

This week, Kelley Currin, 43, accused Curl of repeatedly sexually molesting her starting when she was 13 and said he paid off her family for their silence more than 20 years ago.

The Washington Post reported that USA Swimming requested an emergency disciplinary hearing against Curl, 62, founder of the Curl-Burke Swim Club, one of the largest in the United States with some 950 swimmers.

It was when her parents read her diary that they discovered the abuse and after confronting Curl, they reached a non-disclosure settlement in which the coach allegedly agreed to pay the family $150,000 over 11 years.

Under the terms of the agreement - which the family's lawyer recommended - Currin said she would not press charges or speak publicly about the alleged abuse.

The alleged sexual abuse started in 1983 when she was 13, the document states, and moved on to oral sex when she was 14 and sexual intercourse when she was 16.

But Mrs Currin said the intercourse began when she was 14 but she was afraid to tell her parents this at the time.

Mrs Currin told the Post: 'I was stifled for 23 years from saying anything because I signed a piece of paper when I was 19.

'Now, I've gotten to the point in my life where I'm done being quiet about it. It was a crime, what happened.'

According to a document obtained by the Post, Curl was originally accused of four counts of battery and one count of inflicting emotional distress.

The documents allege that the abuse caused Currin, who was known as Kelley Davies then, to undergo years of therapy and eventually drop out of college.

She told the Post she fell in love with her swimming coach and they would have sex during every road trip and even in his home after he got married.

'By the time I was 14, in my little 14-year-old brain, it was very much a love affair,' she said. 'I loved him. Any problem I had, he would fix it.'

Curl declined to comment but posted a letter on the club's website saying he was taking an immediate leave of absence.

USA Swimming released a statement saying: 'USA Swimming was provided with information late on Friday afteoon which enabled it to initiate the Board of Review process.

'We requested an expedited hearing on Monday and have invited the alleged victim to testify. We hope she will take part in this process, as reporting remains an integral part of the Safe Sport Program.'

If the alleged activity appears to be criminal, USA Swimming is required to inform the proper authorities. It is not clear if the police have yet been involved in the case.
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Curl coached triple-medal-winning Olympic swimmer Tom Dolan during the 1996 and 2000 Summer Games and was the American Swimming Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1994.

The allegations come at a time when the nation is still reeling in the recent Penn State revelations.

Former coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted last month of 45 criminal counts of sexually abusing ten boys over 15 years.

He is expected to be sentenced within 90 days and could face more than 300 hundred years in prison.