Principal, athletic coordinator charged after waiting 53 days to report wrestler’s sexual assault allegation against transgender athlete

Two coaches with Rogers High School were charged after failing to comply with Washington’s mandatory reporting law after a high school female wrestler alleged a biological male sexually assaulted her during a match.

Kallie Keeler, a 15-year-old female wrestler, unknowingly wrestled a transgender athlete during the Lady Jag Kickoff tournament last December. During the match, Keeler claimed her opponent pressed her fingers into her vagina, according to an exclusive report from Brandi Kruse. According to the official complaint filed after the match, Keeler allowed her opponent to pin her so the match could end.

“I found out after the match was already over when a coach from a different school came up and told me,” Keeler told Fox News. “I was shocked, and then I was more uncomfortable about the situation than I already was.”

After this discovery, Keeler and her mother, Stephanie Brown, filed a lawsuit through Alliance Defending Freedom.

“So, they tried to take that one to court to sue on that, and the court said no because occasionally that move can be used in wrestling,” KIRO host John Curley said. “You’re not going to have that court case go anywhere. But what the Keeler family found is that they filed a complaint on [Dec. 8], two days after the meet, and no action was taken through January. Their daughter stopped wrestling after that.”

Carly Cappetto, the spokesperson for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, told The Tacoma News Tribune that a school resource officer didn’t learn of the incident until Jan. 30.

“The police were finally notified after Brandi Kruse broke the story and contacted the district. I guess the media exposure broke the whole thing open,” Curley said. “Here’s the problem: The law says as soon as a parent or somebody reports a sexual assault has occurred on campus, you’ve got 48 hours to then alert authority. They didn’t, so Smith and Collins, in the administration of the school there in Puyallup, didn’t tell anybody for 53 days, and that’s a violation of the law.”

Principal Jason Smith, 55, and athletic coordinator Peter Collins, 49, were charged on July 21 in Pierce County District Court for failing to comply with Washington’s mandatory reporting law. Washington state law requires schools to report incidents to law enforcement within 48 hours if there is any alleged abuse or neglect.

“But why did they wait? Everybody’s going to want to know why did they wait 53 days?” Curley asked. “This is an 80/20 dispute, where 80% of people just simply say yes without even giving it much thought. Boys should compete against boys, and girls should compete against girls. And is it exclusionary? In a way, it is because you want girls to be able to fairly find themselves on a track or field or court, and knowing that they’re going up against someone else who is the same gender, same sex, and about the same age.”

One initiative on Washington’s November midterm would prohibit transgender girls from playing sports on girls’ teams. If passed, schools would “require students to undergo a routine physical examination before participation in interscholastic sports, which includes documentation of the student’s sex assigned at birth.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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