Photo: Jim Spellman/Getty
A cheerleader at Navarro College alleges in a new lawsuit thatCheercoach Monica Aldama, along with other members of the cheerleading squad and staff members at the school, discouraged her from reporting her sexual assault, according to theDallas Morning News.
The plaintiff also alleges thatAldama would help her cheerleading careerif she did not report the assault.
Aldama, Navarro College’s Director of Athletics Michael Landers, Navarro College’s Title IX Coordinator Elizabeth Pillans and the college are all named as defendants in the lawsuit, along with the man accused of assaulting the cheerleader.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Aldama claimed the allegations in the lawsuit are “wildly inaccurate.”
Navarro also shared a statement with PEOPLE, which said that the college “denies any allegations of wrongdoing and is prepared to vigorously defend itself in court.”
‘Cheer’.Monica Aldama/Instagram
The plaintiff alleges that in Sept. 2021, her roommate brought male cheerleaders back to their room around 4 a.m., when she was asleep. One of the men climbed into her bed and started to assault her, she alleges. She called for help and was eventually able to push him away, she claimed.
When the plaintiff told others on the team about the alleged incident the next day, she claims, an older cheerleader said: “You just need to drink it off and get your mind off of it” because “that’s what Navarro girls do— they drink. We don’t tell anyone. We just keep it to our self.”
The male cheerleaders then allegedly followed the plaintiff and her boyfriend as they left in a car and pointed guns at them, and “threatened to kill them for reporting the assault.”
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The plaintiff said she then reported the assault to Aldama, who allegedly told her not to tell others, saying, “If you keep quiet, I’ll make sure you can cheer anywhere you want,” according to the lawsuit. She also says that Navarro’s Title IX Coordinator Elizabeth Pillans said neither the school nor the local police had access to a rape kit.
And in Feb. 2021, two other male cheerleaders who had been on the Navarro teamwere arrested on sex offense charges. One, Robert Joseph Scianna Jr., was arrested in Virginia and charged with taking indecent liberties with a child and use of an electronic communication device to solicit sex, later pleading guilty. The other, Mitchell Ryan, was arrested in Texas on a charge of felony aggravated sexual assault of a child, but a grand jury declined to indite him.
Cheerdebuted on Netflix in Jan. 2020 and followed Navarro’s cheerleading squad as they competed for a national championship. Its public acclaim led to a second season, which premiered in Jan. 2022 and expanded to include Navarro and its closest rival, Trinity Valley Community College, in their journey to nationals. A third season has not yet been announced.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.
source: people.com
