USA Fencing sued over alleged sexual abuse of former Sunnyvale coach
(KRON) — A civil lawsuit was filed on Wednesday against USA Fencing, alleging that a coach sexually abused a Sunnyvale student while she was a minor. The coach, Ra’ad Rabieh, was arrested in 2021 and charged with oral copulation with a minor, and the charges were dropped in the preliminary hearing stage.
USA Fencing is the organization that selects the American Olympic fencing team. It is based out of Colorado Springs but does business in Santa Clara County, which is where the lawsuit was filed.
The plaintiff began training under Rabieh in 2011 when she was 13 years old, the lawsuit states. He was employed by USA Fencing, despite the fact that he had been accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a minor when he was coaching in Arizona in 2002-2003.
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While working in Sunnyvale, Rabieh used his position of power to manipulate the victim, per the lawsuit. They had an intimate relationship, and he gifted her items including clothing and free private lessons.
According to the lawsuit, Rabieh held her hand, had her sit in his lap, invited her to his apartment and told her that they would get married.
When the girl was 17, Rabieh began to sexually assault her, the lawsuit states. He allegedly kissed her and touched her genitals. At a tournament in Virginia in October 2015, he “instructed (the victim) to take some of his ‘medication’ before he savagely assaulted her,” the lawsuit said.
After the victim turned 18, Rabieh took her virginity, per the lawsuit.
“Rabieh knocked on the door of plaintiff’s parents’ house and announced to plaintiff’s parents that they no longer had power over their daughter. From that point on, Rabieh continued to engage in a full-blown sexual relationship with plaintiff until March of 2017 when plaintiff
returned to college in Germany,” the lawsuit said.
The victim filed a formal complaint in February 2021, and the Sunnyvale Police Department launched an investigation. He was arrested on July 7, 2021, and charged with two felony counts in relation to the abuse. He is now banned from USA Fencing.
“Despite numerous instances of abusive coach-athlete relationships, USA Fencing did not create
any policies or procedures in place to ensure the safety of their minor athletes,” the victim’s lawyers said in a press release.
According to the lawsuit, USA Fencing has a long history of coaches getting accused of sexual assault. In 2019, it adopted “formal athlete abuse prevention policies” that the victim’s lawyers say would have prevented her abuse.
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