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On February 27, a McLennan County grand jury indicted former softball coach Anthony Paul Tristan on two counts of continuous trafficking of persons. The 54-year-old is accused of sexually assaulting two young players on his traveling softball team from 2014 to 2016.
Tristan was a softball coach with the Select league team through the Waco Heat Baseball & Fastpitch Softball Club. He was arrested in August when Waco police received a report of a girl who said she was sexually abused by her softball coach between June 2014 and July 2016. She identified Tristan as her softball coach.
Tristan traveled with his softball team for games in several cities across Texas. The victim told police that she was abused by Tristan several times, including some incidents in hotel rooms. The victim's sibling also reported similar abuse by Tristan.
The first victim told police that there were five or six incidents over the course of two years, beginning in the summer of her seventh-grade year.
Attorney contributor Anjali Nigam represents survivors of sexual abuse as a civil attorney. Here is some information from Anjali regarding the legal options available to survivors of sex abuse by youth sports coaches:
In youth sports and other fields that involve working with kids, it's crucial for management to be aware of the threat of sexual predators. These predators seek out positions of trust and authority in these types of fields. The people who run youth sports organizations must be aware of the danger of sexual predators and do all in their power to keep the kids under their watch safe.
These organizations must make sure that all coaches are thoroughly screened before being approved, including background checks that may reveal a prior history of sexual misconduct. When allegations of sexual misconduct arise, they must be taken seriously and reported to the authorities. When a youth sports organization fails to prevent sexual abuse through negligence, the victims and their families may have grounds for a lawsuit.
If you or a loved one is a survivor of sexual abuse by a youth sports coach, you deserve justice. You can learn more about your family's legal options by speaking to an experienced sexual abuse survivors lawyer.
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