Third lawsuit alleging sexual abuse filed against Ohio high school wrestling coach, wife
GALLIPOLIS, Ohio (WCMH) – A third lawsuit has been filed in the Southern District of Ohio Federal Court on behalf of a third person alleging sexual abuse by a high school wrestling coach and his ex-wife.
Craig Tuttle with Leeseberg Tuttle law firm in Columbus is representing the victims of what he said is “decades of abuse” by Matthew and Paige Huck in Gallia County, Ohio. Also named in the lawsuit are the Gallia County Local School District, school board, and River Valley High School administrators at the time of the alleged abuse.
Suspect arrested after body found in burning car in Columbus
“This is an insane failure on the part of administrators. The sad thing is we feel like we’re just getting the tip of the iceberg,” Tuttle said.
Tuttle alleges Paige Huck began the grooming of a teenager on the wrestling team.
“There was the use of burner phones to avoid detection of their communication back and forth. There was the coach picking this kid up and driving him to their house. Seemingly delivering this student to his wife. They would counsel this kid on where to park his car secretly so that no one would know where he was,” Tuttle said.
In previous lawsuits, Tuttle explains how he believes Matthew and Paige Huck would host parties for football, wrestling, and cheer team members, where drugs, alcohol, pornography, and sex were rampant.
The lawsuit alleges John Doe 3 was a victim in the late 2000’s.
“It was done very much with the assistance of her husband Matthew Huck helping to conceal the events that were going on. And we’re talking sexual intercourse 50 to 60 times over the course of a year and a half,” Tuttle said.
The school district and administrators are also named in the lawsuit because Tuttle believes they were made aware of allegations against the Huck’s. In 2008, Tuttle said Paige Huck was asked to stop teaching as a substitute.
“She was quietly asked to stop teaching. There was no investigation into it. There was no ban on her being on campus. There was nobody interviewed about what happened,” Tuttle said.
Chris Graham is a sexual abuse survivor and advocate for those going through similar traumatic experiences.
“Child sexual abuse is, I think we can agree, outside of like serial murder, it’s the worst thing. Like it’s the worst thing. And it seems to spread and it seems to infect communities in the way that it did in this instance,” Graham said.
Graham has detailed his own experiences in the past as a young boy in the Catholic Church. But he did not come forward until well into his adult years. That’s something he said is very common with survivors. He said these traumatic sexual experiences as developing children can pave a path of pain for their future.
“You look at grooming, this technique, that these individuals used clearly, and that many of these abusers use to prepare a child to accept their advances. What that ends up doing is it makes friendliness triggering to survivors. It makes survivors have a very difficult time trusting anybody,” Graham said. “The suicide rates are two to three times higher with survivors of child sexual abuse.”
Graham said sexual abuse often becomes ingrained in survivors sexual identity and plays a role in all their intimate relationships.
He now uses his own experience to lobby for survivors at the Statehouse. House Bill 322 is an example of the work he backs for bringing justice and criminal action to grooming.
“One of the problems we have with this here in the state of Ohio is the statutes of limitation that we have on child sexual abuse. We have some of the lowest in the country,” Graham said.
For the community of Gallipolis where the Huck’s have allegedly abused half a dozen of high school boys and girls, if not more, Graham suggested the school administrators chose the “easy” path by ignoring the complaints and sweeping the problem under the rug for years. He said that’s why they are dealing with the “hard” part now instead of facing it head on when it first happened. He calls it choosing “Hard-Easy” versus “Easy-Hard.”
“I applaud these survivors for coming forward and I applaud, you know, their family members and friends that supported them. This situation is both horrific, you know, the grossest, most disgusting and most shocking thing, but it also is beautiful. These survivors did one of the hardest things that I think you can do as a human, the hardest thing I ever did, that’s for sure,” Graham added.
He hopes the community of Gallipolis can heal from this. But he also explains that in order to heal, hard conversations have to happen, and people who are hurting have to speak.
“This idea that it is manly and it takes courage to stay silent. I tried that. I will tell you emphatically and with no doubt in my mind, it takes a hundred times more courage to speak the truth,” Graham said.
NBC4 reached out to Gallia County Local Schools, the Superintendent’s office, and the attorney representing Paige Huck in her criminal case. None of them have responded. Huck is charged in Gallia County with six counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.
