Court documents in the sex abuse case of Rick Curl, a former swim instructor, show that the University of Maryland (UMD) did not report the coach to the police for abusing a teenager during his tenure at the school, the Baltimore Sun reported.
The alleged abuse occurred at a private local swim club before he was hired as UMD's swim coach. However, when the victim's parents submitted a written confession to the school's legal team, they saw no reason to report Curl to the police and instead forced him to resign.
According to the Washington Post, Curl went back to work at the club where the abuse reportedly happened and continued to coach thousands of swimmers for decades.
In a letter dated July 26, 1986, Curl wrote: "I Rick Curl do declare of my own free will and volition that I have had sexual intercourse with a minor," he wrote. "I knew at the time of intercourse she was a minor."
The letter was given to UMD's Athletic Director at the time, Lew Perkins, by Kelley Davies' (now Kelley Currin) parents after they discovered who had abused their daughter and that he was coaching at the school, reported the Washington Post.
Curl resigned in 1988, as UMD forced him to, but the school never sought legal action against the abuse that the swimming coach had admitted to. Instead, Susan Bayly, UMD's in-house counsel at the time, advised Currin's parents to hire a private lawyer and prevent publicity. The parents chose to settle for a $150,000 confidentiality agreement with Curl, as the private lawyer Judy Catterton advised.
In Bayly's notes dated "9-7-88," UMD's lawyer gave the parents two options: civil lawsuit and criminal charges and wrote "nasty approach" next to the latter. The notes were used as evidence of her advice to hire Catterton, reading, "have Judy (Catterton) write him letter to get out of swimming,"
Bayly wrote the message "prevent publicity" with an asterisk pertaining to the private lawyer.
Twenty-five years after the abuse occurred, Kelley Currin helped prosecute Curl, who was sentenced last week to seven years in prison. According to the Washington Post, Curl abused Currin from the time she was 13 until after graduating high school.
Brian Ullman, a UMD spokesman, said in a statement that he believes the school acted appropriately at the time and that the documents were released so the school's actions could be judged in "full disclosure and transparency."
"This is truly an unfortunate and regrettable situation," he said. "But we continue to believe that the university's actions were both reasonable and appropriate at the time."
