Alleged Sexual Abuse Victim’s Accusation Does Not Hold Water Against Randall Smith; Media Reports Not Validated

COLORADO SPRINGS – USA Swimming has ruled on the coach behind the controversial Outside Magazine article, and former Holyoke YMCA swim coach Randall Smith, that he can continue to coach in the sport according to MassLive.

In a 2-1 decision by the USA Swimming National Board of Review, Smith was cleared of charges that he violated the USA Swimming Code of Conduct. The key issue, however, proved to be lack of evidence and not a belief that the conduct might not have occurred.

“The majority of the panel wants to make it clear that they did not determine that misconduct alleged in the complaint did not occur. Rather, they found that USA Swimming failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it did occur.”

Smith was alleged to have engaged in sexual abuse of a former Holyoke YMCA swimmer named in both the Outside Magazine article as well as in USA Swimming’s response to the initial article. The article, however, did not specifically name Smith.

The accusations were that Smith engaged in inappropriate kissing and sexual touching during his time with the Greater Holyoke YMCA Vikings.

However, the National Board of Review was unable to receive enough evidence to make a decision to ban Smith for life. This is primarily due to a situation within the USA Swimming National Board of Review process labeled as a non-compliant victim.

The alleged victim in this case refused to help USA Swimming move forward with its case against Smith, forcing USA Swimming to lean heavily on her public blog entries about the alleged abuse. These entries, however, could not be cross-examined in any standard way and carried much less weight than actual testimony.

It is obvious that these situations frustrate both USA Swimming and the National Board of Review, as evidenced by a bit of a strike against the victim in the Hearing Decision.

“Paragraph 14 of that Affidavit states that she is ‘only able to discuss it when she is in complete control of the situation’ apparently when she is blogging or providing interviews to Al Jazeera.”

In cases like these, where the alleged victims are comfortable enough to try their case in the court of public opinion with media member interviews, but are unwilling to participate in the National Board of Hearing process, USA Swimming and others involved are handcuffed.

While the alleged victim’s lack of involvement in the hearing proved to be a huge detriment to the case against Smith, the fact that local police and child safety officials declined to move forward with any charges also impacted the decision.

After a five-month investigation from January 2012 through May 2012, the Holyoke Police Department declined to press charges. Additionally, the Department of Children and Families decided in May 2012 not to move forward with any punishment, citing questionability of the child’s credibility. Again, the alleged victim was not part of that hearing as well.

Smith, meanwhile, provided a polygraph examination that stated that he showed no deception when he denied sexually abusing the alleged victim. Although this type of evidence is not typically admissible in a court room, it was one of the few new items of evidence brought to the USA Swimming National Board of Review.

USA Swimming Hearing Decision (Randall Smith)

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