Sexual abuse allegations have dogged Rick Butler, left, for 22 years. Photo / Supplied
Sexual abuse allegations have dogged Rick Butler, left, for 22 years. Photo / Supplied
WARNING: Disturbing content:
A prominent youth volleyball coach has been accused of sexually abusing six underage girls "hundreds of times" in the 1980s.
Rick Butler, once considered the "most powerful coach in youth volleyball", is facing a 72-page class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Illinois on Tuesday (UStime), the Daily Mail reported.
The rapes allegedly took place hundreds of times, in locations ranging from his car and his apartment, to the weight room of a gym, and even once on a train during a team trip in Germany, in addition to one teen who he lived with, with her mother.
Christine Tuzi - seen playing in the 1980s, right - alleged Butler sexually abused her while he was their coach. Photo / Supplied
He's also accused of forcing at least two of the teens to watch pornographic materials, so they could "learn".
The other parties named in the lawsuit are Butler's wife, Cheryl, who is accused of pressuring victims to remain silent, and the Sports Performance Volleyball Club in Aurora, Illinois.
The suit was brought by Laura Mullen, individually in her capacity as the parent of a child who trained with Butler at the sports club in 2012, and also of "no fewer than six underage teenage girls" who Butler is accused of sexually abusing.
Butler has denied all allegations of sexual assault against him, through his attorney, in an email sent to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Mullen does not allege that Butler assaulted her child in 2012 but instead states that, had she and other parents known "that a child sexual predator would coach their teenage daughters, they never would have given money to defendants and never would have sent their girls to Sports Performance".
Not all six of Butler's accusers have been named publicly, but those who have include Christine Tuzi, who was 16 at the time that she alleges she was raped "hundreds of times" by Butler, resulting in a pregnancy and abortion; Sarah Powers-Barnhard, then-15; Julie Bremner [Romias], then-16, and Beth Rose, again then-16.
Tuzi has said that Butler took advantage of her desire to make the Team USA Volleyball team, raped and assaulted her both at his home and in public.
The complaint states that, after she was lured to Butler's apartment under the pretenses of discussing the Olympic volleyball team, he raped her for the first time on his waterbed, taking her virginity and paralysing her with fear.
"Following this initial encounter was an endless series of 'special practices' and a variety of sexual abuse, assault, and rapes in Butler's car, his apartment, and even the weight room and the gym," the complaint reads.
"Before practices, [Butler] would shove his hands down her pants so he could |smell her through practice," the lawsuit states.
"He told her that any time during practice that he had his hand to his nose, he was thinking of her."
The complaint states that Butler first raped Bremner during a team trip to Japan in 1987, after mental and physical abuse that started when she was 16.
The lawsuit states that Bremner pleaded with him to stop, "tried to resist and insisted she didn't believe in sex before marriage," but that Butler proceeded to rape her, causing her pain and bleeding.
The complain says Bremner went on to suffer sexual abuse from Butler for one and a half years.
The abuse the complaint alleges Butler inflicted on Powers-Barnhard follows a similar to that alleged by Tuzi.
Sarah Powers-Barnhard says Butler raped her as a 16-year-old. Photo / Supplied
Butler is accused of getting her alone in his apartment and painfully raping her while at the same time taking her virginity.
"Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of the sexual abuse that Sarah would suffer," the complain reads, stating that "incidents number in the hundreds".
"On a team trip to Germany, Butler raped Sarah in the bathroom of a train car, with her entire team nearby," the lawsuit states.
"On the same trip to Germany, after an issue with their sleeping arrangements, the entire team and Butler were forced to sleep on the floor in one large room. Butler slept next to Sarah and fondled her throughout the night just feet from the other girls."
Rose didn't play volleyball for Butler, but she lived with him, with her mother, Kay Rogness, who Butler claims was central to his ouster from USA Volleyball in 1995, and in its renewed complaints against him, beginning in December 2016.
In January, following the Chicago Sun-Times report, the organization again permanently banned the coach.
The email from Butler's attorney, though not dated, states that the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has never suspended or disciplined him, and that her remains a member in good standing.
That, however, is no longer the case.
The AAU has since voided Butler's membership and he has been "permanently disqualified" from participating in AAU activities, the organisation announced in a statement earlier this month.
The AAU first started its investigation into Butler's actions in July 2015.
In 2016, Powers-Barnard filed a lawsuit against AAU, twice, with both complaints being dismissed.
