A University of San Diego student-athlete has filed a lawsuit against the university over alleged sexually abusive hazing that led to a pause in team activities in late summer.
Transfer student-athlete AJ Perez alleges, who was slated as the team's quarterback, claims his teammates sexually assaulted and abused him and other teammates in a series of hazing rituals.
Perez transferred to the USD from Utah Tech and had his first football practice on Aug. 3. The lawsuit alleges from that day forward, upperclassmen severely hazed him, as well as other transfers and freshmen.
Most of the specific allegations are too graphic to share, but in one incident, Perez alleges upperclassmen made him and other players perform in something called a nude “rookie show." It allegedly involved drugs, alcohol, sexual assault and battery.
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Graphic Content Warning: Click here to read the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges USD’s head football coach Brandon Moore had "knowledge of many of these offending acts."
In a statement, Coach Moore denied knowing about the alleged hazing.
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“It is an extremely emotional time for everyone attached to this difficult situation. I want to be clear that I had no prior knowledge at any level about these activities before they were reported to me by AJ Perez. This was not anything I’d heard before and certainly doesn't represent my vision for USD Football. The events reported to me were counter to the directive I issued to our players and coaches about hazing not being tolerated in any shape or form in my first team meeting. As soon as I heard the allegations, I immediately reported them to university leadership, and we suspended all football activities as we initiated the preliminary investigation. I never forget that this isn’t just a place of higher learning, but a faith-based institution with values that guide us in all we do. My goal is to nurture and mentor these scholar-athletes on their path to becoming better human beings and men of character. I will continue to support school leadership as they conduct their inquiry and we make sure this never happens again.”
Students NBC 7 spoke to are pushing back.
“It's kind of hard to believe that they don't know anything about it, especially with such a big team,” said first-year student Kayla Operana. “It's usually common for football teams to be very big and if there's a lot of people talking about it, I feel like it's really hard to not see what's happening.”
“I just don't know why you'd even want to do that,” said first-year student Will Tran. “I read the allegations of what they did, and I mean — hazing can be from very minor things to very serious things and I would say this is on the very serious side, and what they described in the article didn't even seem like something you'd want to even partake in. It's just utterly disgusting.”
“You're supposed to be, like, supporting each other and being there for each other,” first-year student Audrey Allen added. “Especially teammates, why would you want to see some of your teammates have to do that or go through that?”
Perez went back home to Huntington Beach after the alleged “rookie show,” according to the lawsuit. Perez said he hasn’t been able to come back to school or to the football team fearing other players will retaliate against him.
Perez's attorney, Scott Carr, issued the following statement:
“AJ Perez had no choice but to file this lawsuit. It is a grave miscarriage of justice when only the victim is punished. No coach or administrator has been held accountable for what happened. The University of San Diego, which claims to have a zero-tolerance policy, has failed to protect its student-athletes from sexual abuse, harassment, and retaliation.”
The university released a statement as well:
“USD is aware of the lawsuit. Our own internal inquiry is currently underway but incomplete. It would be inappropriate to comment pending the conclusion of that inquiry.
The university takes reports of violations of the student code of conduct with the utmost seriousness and condemns acts of hazing and bullying of any kind.
Coach Moore had no advance knowledge of the alleged hazing. In fact, as previously reported, it was Coach Moore who, upon first hearing of the allegations, immediately reported them to the University, and in conjunction with leadership temporarily halted the entire program and initiated an internal inquiry, which resulted in preliminary suspensions. It was Coach Moore's alarm and quick response that prompted the entire investigation.”
