Wednesday 5 October 2022 07:30 PM 'Rapist' California athletic coach 'targeted poor boys who didn't have food or ... trends now
A former California high school football player accusing a female athletic trainer of raping him in the early 2000s said she preyed on vulnerable students who were poor and in need of help.
'I think the fact that we were a bunch of poor kids, nobody had the thought to protect us outside the football field,' a man only identified as John Doe 7042 told the Los Angeles Times, describing how he and man of her victims often needed rides home or money for food.
Doe 7042 is just one of six anonymous John Does who suing Colton High's Tiffany Gordon, who they say raped them while they played on the football team between 2000 and 2007.
Doe 7042 said the abuse was so flagrant that Gordon's father - then head football couch and athletic director Harold Strauss - even walked in on them while she was raping him in the school locker room on Halloween in 2007.
Doe 7042 said Strauss asked his daughter why they were in the locker room with the lights off, and she responded they were 'just closing up and leaving.'
The lawsuit claims other members of the football team, players' parents and school staff were aware of Gordon's misconduct while the school district failed to report or investigate claims brought to them.
Gordon worked as the athletic trainer under her father before she became the athletic director at Grand Terrace High School.
Former Colton High School athletic trainer Tiffany Gordon (pictured) is accused of rape and sexual assault in a lawsuit filed by six former football players
The players recount multiple incidents of rape and abuse between 2000 and 2007
Gordon worked under her father, who was the longtime head football coach and athletic director at Colton High up until his death in 2019
John Doe 7045 claims he told one coach about him and another student being abused and their plans to report it to the district. The coach's wife then suggested this would not be successful.
The lawsuit says the school district first became aware of allegations against Gordon between 2002 and 2006.
'Despite rampant rumors surrounding Gordon's misconduct, (the school district) knowingly, intentionally, willfully, deliberately, negligently, and/or recklessly allowed Gordon to continue abusing Colton High School's varsity football players, including plaintiffs,' the lawsuit reads.
'In doing so, defendants fostered a pervasive and hostile environment that utterly disregarded the rights and safety of minor athletes who were entrusted to (the district).'
The Colton Joint
