September 17, 2020

By City News Service

 

A man who claims a former Olympian and Southland track coach molested him as a high-schooler, using his relationships with UCLA athletic department employees to woo the alleged victim, sued the coach and the University of California today.

According to ESPN, which conducted a yearlong investigation into abuse allegations against Conrad Mainwaring, the lawsuit claims that the private coach would brag about his contacts at UCLA and gave him UCLA gear provided to him by a university employee in an effort to woo the then-teen.

A representative for UCLA told City News Service the university “has no comment on this active litigation.” Officials with the University of California could not be reached late Wednesday for comment. Mainwaring also could not be reached.

   Mainwaring, 68, was arrested last year and charged with a single felony count of sexual battery by fraud, to which he has pleaded not guilty. He is awaiting trial. Prosecutors allege in that case that Mainwaring sexually assaulted a then-20-year-old man on June 25, 2016, under the guise of providing physical therapy.

   ESPN, as a result of its yearlong investigation, reported last year that more than 40 men have alleged misconduct by Mainwaring dating back to the 1970s, with the number topping 50 since the report was published.

   Mainwaring, who competed in the 1976 Olympics as a hurdler for Antigua, worked as a private track coach, and while he would often train runner's at UCLA's track, he never worked for the university.

   According to ESPN, the unnamed plaintiff who filed Wednesday's lawsuit alleges that Mainwaring sexually abused him in 2011 while he was in Los Angeles for a week of training, under the guise of a physical therapy session. The suit claims Mainwaring lured the plaintiff with insinuations that he worked for UCLA and assisted the university with recruiting student athletes. The plaintiff claims at least one UCLA athletic department employee knew Mainwaring

was making such claims, but did nothing to correct them.

   The plaintiff, now 26, claims in the lawsuit that Mainwaring convinced him to visit Los Angeles from his home in Georgia when he was a junior in high school, with the coach framing the visit like a recruiting trip, including a chance to tour the UCLA campus and meet with recruiters, ESPN reported.

Category: News