If he is in fact living in the house attached to the property - and I’m certain that he is, as he seems to desperately want to establish and maintain the illusion of being something more than the lowly stable-hand/barn help that he’s been for most of his life and he can’t pull that off with a dump like Riverchase, no matter how hard he tries - and/or is acting in any capacity that is obviously that of an authority figure, that’s probably enough to qualify as aiding and abetting in SafeSport’s book. It’s also a known fact that he’s not on good terms with the owners of Riverchase, so it’s in his interest to relocate to the other facility, where everything is nicer and gives him an air of legitimacy. All that anyone can do at this point is to keep an eye on him and his underlings, if possible.
USEF will need proof that Navarro is living or working there.
It is very odd. Why would anyone try to seem strange, especially when advertising a business directed toward parents of young children.
Luis really doesn’t care, nor should he. He’s not an actual business owner or anything other than farm help, so he won’t be dealing with any of the actual clients, beyond whatever incidental contact he ends up having. He’s in with Navarro because of their shared Mexican heritage and his relationship with the other immigrants, for labor purposes. There’s supposedly a group of them living onsite, at Riverchase, who handle everything farm-related under Luis direction, with orders coming from Navarro.
Agree. Based on how USEF has interpreted the “aiding and abetting” provisions before, being the front for a banned person to run his program behind the scenes is part of what is prohibited.
It seemed like a typo for PHOTOGRAPHY so I assume that
@LexInVA I hate to make another sleuthing request, but you’re so good at it… can you tell if Luis has a rap sheet?
There are many many many entries in the state court system with the name he uses, so I can’t really tell if he does have any charges against him, as it’s difficult to track immigrant charges, because they can be using addresses all over the land, tend to use multiple aliases in different places and also use common names or only a portion of their name, so you can’t tell exactly who did what. He might have a bunch of warrants and charges in another state and nothing here in Virginia. Apart from that, stuff gets misspelled or modified during entry into the system, so you have variants of whatever someone’s name is and that adds up to a lot of entries, if it’s a fairly common name, as it often is with those who have foreign origins. Nothing short of full record access and cross-referencing will likely turn up whatever he’s done in the past, if anything. That’s something that LE would have to do and they wouldn’t do it without probable cause or an ordered investigation.
If Tom can’t be around USEF horse shows or IEA related activities… I wonder if his rights are limited elsewhere? Can he be on public school grounds? I believe he has a grandkid of school age? Maybe I’m wrong so don’t hold me to it… but there is a Leah Jackson and Thomas Navarro III that have a child together and I believe that child would be Tom’s grandkid. I only found this by Googling Tom Navarro Leesburg and a wedding site came up (Zola).
Does anyone know if there is a way to determine if he is in fact allowed to be around kids on school grounds, etc? Not saying he has or hasn’t been. But wondering if those rights have been taken away from him. And IF NOT they should be taken away.
Tom’s conviction pre-dates the implementation of restrictions on sex offenders, so he has never had any real restrictions imposed on him, beyond those that are raised via a background check to keep offenders away from children. Unless he committed some undocumented transgression after his conviction, there really isn’t anything that can be used against him. Based on what little is out there about him, it seems that he moved around frequently after being caught, from place to place, and those addresses were in the vicinity of lesson barns/riding facilities where he was likely employed as “the help” and he could have done something to a child, but we just don’t know much of anything about what he was doing before he slithered into Riverchase and started calling himself an Accomplished Instructor and Horseman. Tom claims to have been at Riverchase for almost twenty years, but I haven’t seen any documentation that puts him there before the end of the first decade of the 2000s and nobody really talked about him until recently.
As for his son, Tom Navarro 3rd, that’s another rabbit hole all-together. Tom Jr. is supposedly in his early 40’s and Tom 3rd is nearly 30 or so, so that is something curious to consider. Tom Jr.'s wife and not mother of Tom 3rd, Anastasia, is occasionally seen with a baby that doesn’t seem to be his and she doesn’t really act like someone who is married, happily or otherwise, so that’s another puzzling thing to consider.
That raises even more questions in my mind…
Bernie T was one of Georges biggest supporters when GM got sanctioned…guess we know why now.
These people are showing us who they are long before we get the real story.
If anyone missed it, COTH did post about Traurig’s suspension on their FB page today.
And didn’t Bernie T give up his USEF membership in protest?
Yes and yes. Here is a link to an article where Bernie is quoted. https://nancyjaffer.com/the-focus-is-on-safesport-with-a-case-in-the-spotlight/
I actually took a couple of lessons with Michael Traurig in the spring when he was teaching in Topanga… he was close to where I was staying, I’m not from CA so had no clue he has a long history of sketchiness, and honestly, the family name made me curious. I didn’t see anything untoward but I wasn’t surprised to see the Chronicle post. There was an overly-friendly, unprofessional, almost scammy vibe that I found unsettling and he was kicked out of the barn after just a few months. I’m glad his name is now public and I hope all his victims can find peace and closure.
For those not on Facebook, here’s Kristin Medall Simpson-Ferguson Hardin’s post on Michael Traurig from last week.
THREE WEEKS AGO:
“Mom, I have to tell you something. Something happened to one of my friends , she’s afraid to tell , she’s really scared of him , but I think you know the person, I think you told me he did something to you, I think you told me that”…
My heart sank as my son told me the story. I do know who this is .
TEN YEARS AGO :
I was 44
We did so much then , what He did to me was only the cherry on top of the icing on the cupcake, added to a long list of people complaining; women and children , trainers ,parents and other coaches , all at the same facility. What he did to me , he did in public . In front of my children . In front of another trainer . Huge changes ensued for his life, but now I know , I didn’t do enough, it wasn’t enough , we didn’t do enough…
At the time , He was given one year probation, not to set foot on the Training Centre, warnings were issued , it was public.
He called me yelling “you are ruining my life!” I said , no, you grabbed my breasts in public, and talked about what you wanted to do to me while you were grabbing me . You did that , not me -in front of my children and other trainers. You did that, not me .
That should have rocked his World . But Seven years later , three years ago, he did it to her , she was 12 at the time .
YESTERDAY:
When my son convinced her her to talk to me, she had already had the wherewithal to call weridetogether.today and given her story Anonymously, but was too scared of him to give her real name or his. She is terrified of him. I shared with her , my story .
I broke down , this should not have happened to this child .
LAST THURSDAY:
A friend called me to tell me about an assault in LA, a Woman had been cornered pinned Up against the wall by the same person luckily there was a witness and law enforcement was involved. My friend called to tell me that finally it looks like he will be stopped.
YESTERDAY:
My son encouraged ,her the young girl ,now 15 , to reach out to me so I could tell her what was going on. I told her about the arrest in LA the pending legal suit, I also told her because of that incident in LA , I did my part, I told my story too Safesport and to the LA County sheriffs department.
I also told her the witnesses to my assault ,who stood by me then , are still standing by me now. They also stepped up yesterday and spoke with the authorities. It seems there may be more women who didn’t do enough then to stop this dangerous person , who are going to recount their assaults now , step forward and speak out.
TODAY:
Wheels are in motion , reports are being made , to the LA County sheriffs detective in charge of the special victims unit and to SafeSport . It’s simply a matter of time. They just need to determine which entity is more powerful to stop him the quickest.
4:38 am , NOW :
I’m going to post the child’s account , she gave to weridetogether.today . As you’ll read the names are changed for privacy . I won’t reveal her name, for her own privacy and because of her age , but his Name is Michael Traurig.
Here is her story :
“ After hearing Maggie share her story, I think it’s time I told mine.
I was groomed from ages 11 to 14 by a trainer I trusted with my life. We’ll call him “Tim.” I started riding with him in 2016. Moving to his barn, I was hopeful we’d find a horse I could finally move up on.
Tim gave me a lot confidence in the beginning. He always called me special and gave me special treatment—he’d let me ride client horses or when a sales horse was being tried, I’d get to ride it before the client came out. At the time, I thought it was because he saw potential in me.
After about a year, the relationship changed. He started making weird comments. He’d tell me that I looked pretty that day or, when I started puberty, he’d comment on how my body was changing. I brushed it off at the time, the trainer I thought I knew wouldn’t be like that. But deep down I knew it was weird.
One day, we were at a local show. It was August. I was in the show changing room and he walked in while I was getting dressed—I had no pants on and my shirt was half off. But instead of leaving, he stayed in the room. I started to pull my pants up, trying to make it seem like he came in by accident. But it wasn’t. He walked up to me and put his hand right between my legs and started moving it back to my butt.
I didn’t know what to do. I felt frozen.
I eventually got the words out to casually call my younger sister over. He quickly moved his hand away and I pulled my pants up before she came in. She didn’t know what happened and I didn’t tell her; I tried to block it out of my mind the rest of the show.
But on Classic Day, I won a big class. I was so happy! And everyone else was too. I rode my horse back to the barn and Tim was waiting for me at the crossties. I got off and he opened his arms for a hug. Being 13, I didn’t think anything of it, so I hugged him. He grabbed my butt when he hugged me. I pulled away frantically, but not noticeable enough to make a scene.
Things like this continued for about five months. He would make uncomfortable comments and look for opportunities to touch me. I thought about telling my sister, but I was scared. I thought I’d rather it be me than her.
It wasn’t until he scammed my parents out of $100,000 in a fraudulent horse deal that I was finally given an out to leave. I never told anyone. My family knows about the weird remarks, but not the touching. Everyone just thought I was “the favorite.”
After talking with Maggie, I can’t imagine what others went through. I’m grateful every day to be out of that situation
But I also live with what happened and it’s blocking me from having meaningful emotional connections with people. Anytime I’m shown affection like that, it brings me back. It’s hard for me to do normal things, like change in front of friends or to be physically touched.
I just want to share my story so others don’t feel alone, like I did. And for my own closure. Because it’s not just me. It happens more than you think. “
Most of them are traffic violations.
Shouldn’t the prior assault, which resulted in a year’s probation, be enough to have gotten him onto the SS list?
This is just DISGUSTING. Reading the accounts by all these victims, since the George Morris thread, just brings me to tears. I believe if I ever see anything like this happen, I will kick the perpetrator in the balls.
Disgusting indeed.
I think back on all the cr*p I endured in the horse show world. I put up with it at the time because it seemed like titillating comments, a swipe of a hand here and there, and sexual innuendo poorly disguised as a joke were just part of it all. To hear these stories, and know that this type of behavior (and worse) continues, makes me both angry and sad. And more than a tad vengeful.
Thank God for Safe Sport.
