US Olympian groomed, sexually assaulted figure skaters when he worked in SC, lawsuits say

A pair of lawsuits filed in South Carolina federal court accuses a former Olympic figure skater of sexually assaulting three athletes he trained at a rink in Irmo.

The suits, filed by attorneys from two South Carolina law firms, also accuse Flight Fit N Fun, the company that owns and operates the skating rink, as well as the U.S. Figure Skating Association, the sport’s national governing body, of failing to protect the young athletes.

The alleged abuse of the victims — identified in the lawsuits as Jane Doe #1, Jane Doe #2 and Jane Doe #3 — took place between 2017 and 2023. A defendant named in one lawsuit, 61-year-old Mark Cockerell, is accused of grooming the girls over a period of years, culminating in an alleged rape of Jane Doe #1 in a hotel room around Jan. 28, 2023.

“Its just the tip of the iceberg,” attorney Bakari Sellers said at a Feb. 2 news conference.

The lawsuits, which do not name the victims, outline abuse allegations against Cockerell, who the documents say met the victims while working as a coach and the skating director at Flight Fit N Fun in Irmo, South Carolina.

Sellers said that he was not aware of any police incident reports filed in the cases.

The first lawsuit, filed Jan. 24, does not name the defendants, referring to them instead under the fictitious names of John Roe, XYZ Skating Rink Inc,. and ABC Skating Federation. The second lawsuit, filed Feb. 7, names the defendants. Attorneys indicated in a news release that the defendants in both lawsuits are the same.

The State contacted officials at the Irmo rink, which referred questions to an attorney. The attorney did not respond to inquiries. The State has been unable to contact Cockerell.

One lawsuit alleges that by 2020, Cockerell had “already been inappropriate with a number of other athletes and children.” The attorneys also claimed that, by the time he met Doe #1, Cockerell should already have been fired and reported to both the police and U.S. Figure Skating Association.

The State has reached out to U.S. Figure Skating, but has not received a response.

A review of grievances maintained by U.S. Figure Skating does not show any coaches from South Carolina. Similarly, a review of the disciplinary database maintained by the U.S. Center for Safe Sport does not show any figure skating coaches from South Carolina being suspended or barred from the sport.

“But for the failures of (the U.S. Figure Skating Association) and (Flight Fit N Fun), Jane Doe #1 never even encounters (Cockerell) as a coach,” according to the lawsuit.

There is no documentation of Cockerell being arrested on any criminal charges in either Richland or Lexington counties, according to court records. Cockerell is not listed on the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s sex offender registry.

Cockerell currently lives in Nevada, according to one of the lawsuits.

What is Cockerell accused of?

The lawsuits describe the following behaviors of Cockerell, who represented the U.S. in the 1984 Winter Olympics as a member of the national figure skating team.

Jane Doe #1 started training with Cockerell in August 2020. At the time, the former Olympian was the skating director of the ice rink and was there almost daily.

Cockerell is accused of grooming Doe #1, allegedly making statements including:

“You’re the best and strongest athlete I’ve ever had”; “You’re such beautiful girl”; “You have such perfect legs and I wish I could see them someday”; “You’re my favorite”; and “I wish I could take you home with me every day.”

Cockerell allegedly told Doe #1 that he loved her and wanted to marry her. The lawsuit does not say how old Doe #1 was at the time, however a news release issued Thursday said two of the three victims were minors at the time.

Over time, this behavior escalated, according to the lawsuit. Cockerell began insisting that Doe #1 wear more revealing clothes, spend more time with him and engage in “some type of sexual interaction.”

When Doe #1 was sick with COVID in January 2022, Cockerell allegedly texted her, saying he missed her and was “burning to feel her ‘inside.’ ”

Around Jan. 28, 2023, Cockerell allegedly convinced Doe #1 to join him in a hotel room. There, the lawsuit describes him as disrobing and kissing Doe #1 before raping her.

Jane Doe #2 was just 14 years old when she began training with Cockerell in 2018. The lawsuit describes Cockerell engaging in a similar process of alleged grooming. He would compliment and flatter Doe #2, telling her “You’re the prettiest girl in the world”; “I want to spend the rest of my life with you”; “You get more and more beautiful every single day”; and “You’re the sexiest girl in the world.”

Cockerell allegedly told Doe #2 “you have the best legs in the world” while touching her. The lawsuit accuses Cockerell of escalating his physical contact with Doe #2 through “lingering side hugs,” which evolved into him “holding her body close to his in a variety of different positions while grabbing her waist, legs, butt, or hair.”

Over time, he encouraged her to wear increasingly revealing tight-fitting outfits like skating dresses and cat suits to practice, saying she needed to get used to them for competitions. Cockerell allegedly laid out rules for what Jane Doe #2 was allowed to eat and “would shame and belittle her if she disobeyed or didn’t look skinny enough on any given day,” according to the lawsuit.

He would tell her that they were a couple and “would run away some day and have a happy life together.”

Over time, Doe #2 became moody and withdrawn. In 2021, “Jane Doe #2 had a complete mental breakdown and left skating,” according to the lawsuit.

In the second lawsuit, attorneys say Cockerell’s sexual misconduct against Jane Doe #3 began in 2017 when the she was only 14. Cockerell made lewd and inappropriate comments that intensified over time into groping and psychological manipulation, following the same pattern as with his other victims, according to the lawsuit. This included going from comments about the then-15-year-old having “the perfect body,” and “amazing legs,” to inappropriate touching and body shaming, where he would tell Jane Doe #3 “she needed to lose weight so her jumps would look better,” and comparing her to other skaters, saying they “are so skinny that’s why they’re so good,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Jane Doe #3 developed an eating disorder, which led to a purging disorder and her losing almost 20 pounds in two weeks because of Cockerell’s emotional abuse.

Jane Doe #3 “suffered immeasurable harm and will likely have to undergo psychiatric/psychological care for the remainder of her life,” and still struggles with an eating disorder today, according to the lawsuit.

“The actions by this predator follow the same pattern of abuse and misconduct with victims year after year,” Hood said in the release. “That’s not a coincidence. That’s a pattern of abuse and neither Flight Fit N Fun nor U.S Figure Skating did anything to stop it.”

Attorneys also allege that Cockerell was often visibly drunk while at practice, which would escalate his inappropriate behavior.

“We don’t know how deep this culture of abuse goes,” Sellers said in Thursday’s release. “But the deeper we dig, the more we find and the more people are coming forward here in South Carolina and across America.”

The State Media Co. asked the Richland and Lexington sheriff’s departments as well as the Irmo Police Department for any incident reports concerning Cockerell. By Friday, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department responded with one heavily redacted report.

That report, which was filed earlier this month, redacts the names of the suspect and the victim, the incident description and nearly all of the narrative.

The report says that someone visited the sheriff’s department on Feb. 3 to report something, but the report redacts what was reported. Whatever was reported apparently happened between 2018 and 2020 when a girl was 13 or 14.

Cockerell’s name is not included in any of the unredacted information.

All three victims are represented by Strom Law Firm attorneys Sellers, Jessica Fickling, Alexandra Benevento and Pete Strom as well as McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC attorneys Hood and Chad McGowan.