Soresi. His full name was mentioned earlier in this thread.
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Right here:
https://safesport.org/files/details/109
But you need to actually read the resolution processes in the code for proof of the second part of your statement regarding interviewing, evidence, and hearings. It begins on page 21, but what you really want to read begins on page 23:
https://safesport.org/files/details/114
The parties to an investigation and arbitration are the Center and the Respondent. During the investigation, the Claimant and Respondent will have an opportunity to submit information and relevant evidence, to identify witnesses who may have relevant information, and to submit questions that they believe should be directed by the investigator to
each other or to any witness.
Upon issuance of a Decision, a Respondent has five Days to request a hearing before an arbitrator. If Respondent does not make such a request within five Days, the Decision is no longer subject to review, except as permitted herein.
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I think the actual policy document is far more useful than the flowchart at answering those questions. Page 21–30 are most germane to the topic at hand. It is certainly not up to the standard of courtroom criminal proceedings (I don’t see mention of cross-examination) but it does seem fairly equivalent to the process that I would be subject to at my work, were I accused of sexual misconduct.
Relevant quote, from page 23–24:
The parties to an investigation and arbitration are the Center and the Respondent. During the investigation, the Claimant and Respondent will have an opportunity to submit information and relevant evidence, to identify witnesses who may have relevant information, and to submit questions that they believe should be directed by the investigator to each other or to any witness.
*Edit: whoops, posted the exact same thing as @Texarkana at the same time! Sorry to bombard you BITSA. 
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The Rodriguez case is not remotely comparable because the ban was based on a “judicial disposition”, as opposed to a SafeSport investigation.
Part of Bonnie Navin’s disinformation campaign wrt RG contained the claim that SafeSport had been handing out lifetime bans to “everyone” and “90% were overturned on appeal”. Zero documentation.
If there is no documentation to these claims, please stop repeating them.
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Have you visited the SS website or read a single post pertaining to how their process works?
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It was on the radio in my city this morning. Not a podcast, or any sort of specialty show focused on sports as a whole (though they were talking about sports in this particular segment)…the regular morning show that normal people listen to. :eek:
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This would be Jonathan Soresi. He became a student of George Morris at Hunterdon when he was 13, then became George’s assistant trainer, specializing in the younger kids and ponies. He’s the assistant mentioned in “A Very Young Rider.”
In 2006 Soresi was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography, and in 2008 he pled guilty. He is in the sexual offender registry and has a SafeSport ban. The internet says he still teaches riding.
Soresi was the Hunterdon assistant trainer from 1977-1983.
One article you can read:
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article…ng-rider-grows
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The law repeatedly fails to prosecute sexual misconduct.
SafeSport uses the same standard of proof as any human resources department would use in a similar employment situation, however, unlike a human resources department, they provide a formal pathway for investigation and arbitration.
Claims submitted to SafeSport that result in permanent ineligibility are not those made out of “vengeance” or “insult.” Please refer to the SafeSport policies beginning on pg. 20. SafeSport generally cannot even pursue a claim made in an anonymous third-party report and they cannot guarantee anonymity for the claimant. Nearly all information is shared with the respondent throughout the course of the investigation and the respondent has the right to an advisor, as well as the opportunity to provide their own witnesses, questions, and counter-evidence.
https://safesport.org/files/details/114
The US Center for SafeSport has fielded over 3,000 reports since it started, yet less than 10% of those result in permanent ineligibility for the accused (source: USA Today). The low number of harsh sanctions compared to the number of reports indicates to me that their processes are comprehensive enough to weed through scuttlebutt and false accusations.
To your point about statute of limitations: as pointed out upthread, many states have eliminated statute of limitations for sex crimes. I suspect we will see this number of states increase as this issue comes to the forefront:
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I did not repeat them. I never once mentioned Bonnie Navin. I never mentioned giving bans to “everyone” or that ridiculous statistic. As a matter of fact, I’ve shared the one statistic I can verify several times on this thread: that less than 10% of reports result in “permanently ineligible” sanctions.
I repeated the Rodriguez case because I think that IS a pertinent example, and one that is publicized. Handing out a ban for “judicial disposition” contrary to what the judicial system revealed is something to question; why would they even go down that road without something more substantial to back it up?
But-- my question for YOU is have you ever been involved in a SafeSport investigation? I have not. But in the past three months, I have talked to A LOT of people who have. Their experiences have run the gamut and have been eye-opening. I have been very careful not to say anything publicly that I cannot cite with published facts. But nevertheless, this is why I have questions about how a SafeSport sanction will stand up to a well-organized “attack” with limitless financial and legal resources, like we are about to see.
This disagreement is petty, and I’m going to stop responding now because I know we are both in support of SafeSport and I fear that my thoughts are ultimately doing more damage than good. Those against SS misinterpret them and latch on to any sliver of an idea to support their opposition. That is something neither of us want!
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Why is this Safe Sport issue such a topic for argument? How many of us are in favor of molestation of children by adults? If so, raise your hand. Safe Sport is not a criminal prosecution so the constitutional protections do not apply. It is an administrative process gifted to USEF by the national group governing Olympic etc sports. It is going to reach back and grab some people who got away with molestation and rape because they did and at the time it was not really possible for their victims to object openly and survive the experience. In the 1970’s John and Greta Rideout in Oregon made marital rape a crime. In the 1970s people a husband could not be charged with rape of your wife because she had no right to object to sex with her husband. It was followed by the recognition that date rape was a crime and we are still struggling with how many women have to testify before a famous person can be recognized for what they are: a rapist, e.g. Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, the list goes on and on. We are either against the harm done to children by adults or we are not. If you are not, then there’s really nothing anyone can say to you, just as there is nothing to be said to neo nazi groups, KKK members and their ilk. Believe what you like but things are changing and yes, it is bringing illustrious careers to an end, but that’s not a bad thing because those person did terrible harm to a child and paid nothing. I did read the procedures for Safe Sport and they give minimal due process to the accused. It is not the government doing this and they won’t go to jail, so minimal due process is more than their victim got. For pete’s sake, this is making me want to weep.
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What an incredibly sad footnote to a beloved childhood classic that’s already tarnished. Obviously, a tiny drop in a sea of tragedy, but still shaking my head.
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There is quite a bit of fb activity today on. Interesting to see the names coming forward in support. I’m so sad for the victims in this awful situation.
there is now a fb group called “ I stand for George “, I think it was started by Candice King.
Gemini Brittany Pledger started a post on her page proposing that usef club majority members bring about a class action lawsuit against usef for being forced to sign away constitutional rights to due process as requirement for membership. She goes on to say membership needs to stand together for the “ Father” of our sport. She implies that George is God & that “ He literally wrote the equestrian bible”.
Someone commented about already contacting a few lawyers.
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Did he delete it? I don’t see it on that link.
SMDH. This is not going to be a fun ride for our sport.
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And so it begins. My apologies ahead of time if my comments are a bit more blunt than usual. My patience has worn very thin since I read some of the reactions to Ashley Wagner’s article (I didn’t even know she was a survivor before it was announced and I’ve been looking into the JC case for months).
It boggles my mind that so many people will spread misinformation, victim blame and try to disband an organization because somebody that they like/respect is banned. Especially when they have NO idea what led to that decision being made.
Thank you @poltroon for posting my previous comments. I would suggest anyone who believes that SafeSport will hand out a lifetime ban without an investigation to read them ASAP.
Looking at GM’s statement, it seems like he’s trying to imply that he was banned due to one survivor from about 50 years ago. This is not true. If he decides to go forward with the appeals process, the details of the case will definitely go public (you can find the JAMS document of Colin Burns case for an example of what they release). I’m pretty sure they will become public before that though the media.
Posts on the internet don’t go away. Especially when you are a big name in your sector. I’m already imagining what people will say as more information comes out (or if they’ll just ignore it and pretend that they didn’t say anything).
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Already spotted a trainer in my area posting a big long defense of poor ol’ George and how unfair it was that something that occurred 50 years ago would be held against him, and how she’s sure anything he did way back when is long since forgiven…and then deleting it less than a day later. Seems like they’re all taking it to the private group.
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Some people are really good at hiding that side of themselves. I have seen it happen in the sports my children participate in. Not to my child, but I was completely blindsided. I liked this coach tremendously. I spent time with him. I had no idea that he was in a “romantic” relationship with a student. When he was fired from a previous coaching job for sending inappropriate text messages to girls, the organization covered it up and allowed him to move onto the next position. It’s important for people to speak out to protect the children who come after.
Oh yes, and when this relationship was exposed, one of the other mothers said to me, “Oh, that girl always liked older men.” Like it was her fault.
This was a coach who had all the Safesport training.
Hugs to you and your daughter.
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I haven’t got time to go back and cite the person who said that a more military style of training was common “back then” (I’m paraphrasing here - sorry)
I’ve been in this sport since the early 1960’s. I had many very famous ex-military trainers - Maj Mike Antoniewiecz, Col Stephen Lewicki, Capt Stewart Treviranus, Col Bengt Ljundquist…and not ONE of them was ever abusive. They were tough, they were no-nonsense, they weren’t all touchy-feely. Believe me, there were no hugs. But abusive - no. Never. Not to me, not to anyone else that I ever saw.
I would never ride in a George Morris clinic, but I watched many of them, starting way back, I don’t know, in the 1970’s maybe. I would never put up with his abusiveness. “You’re fat” “You’re dumber than a box of rocks” “you’re a dumb blonde” and so on. I watched him put his hands all over a young teenage boy at the first clinic I ever saw, “correcting his position” and vowed right then never to ride with him. Did it affect my career? Maybe. I certainly could never put “rode with George Morris” on my resume, but I considered it a worthwhile trade-off.
Granted, he moderated his abrasiveness a lot in more recent years. I took a student to ride in a clinic with him and he was decent to her. Maybe she was lucky, or good, or maybe he was just in a good mood that day.
I read his book and wondered how he had the nerve to publish it. Yes, many people “knew” he was gay since way back when, but so what? Even if it was a crime, many people in the horse world were gay - and I think we were open-minded enough to not care, when society as a whole was not so accepting. Yes, there were whispers about George and minors, going back many years and that’s a different story, but without proof, who should we have spoken up to? There’s a big difference between rumour and fact. There were whispers - and more - about the likes of Barney Ward, and Paul Valliere, and others, some of whom were guilty and some may have been innocent. But if you don’t have first hand knowledge, you’re only repeating rumours.
I think SafeSport is long overdue and if a few big names get smacked on the hand, well tough. GM is not going to starve because of SS.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Pass the popcorn. I think we’re in for a wild ride.
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I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
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You’d think they would learn from experience (Rob Gage) that rushing to support a banned person without being in possession of the facts is a dumb move.
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