Charges dismissed against former U swim coach

Charges dismissed against former U swim coach


1 photo
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — An Arizona judge has dropped all charges against a former University of Utah swim coach accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Arizona prior to his coaching in Utah.

The charges were dropped because of a state statute, characterized by some as a gray area of Arizona law, in which someone at age 15 can consent to sexual contact.

The accuser said the abuse took place over a period of about three years, beginning in 2005, while Greg Winslow was a coach for the Sun Devils Aquatic Club in Tempe, Ariz. She said Winslow kissed and touched her in an office on the Arizona State University campus. The accuser's father, Walt, said dropping the charges was a big mistake.

"(I am) furious. My daughter was abused. We trusted a coach. He abused her. I want justice as the father of a teenage daughter at the time," he said.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery issued a statement about the case saying, "We were unable to meet the necessary burden of proof required to move forward with formal charges. Absent additional information which could support these or other allegations, we will not pursue this matter further."


We were unable to meet the necessary burden of proof required to move forward with formal charges.

–Bill Montgomery, Maricopa County Attorney


The allegations of sexual abuse came to light during Winslow's time at the University of Utah. The U launched an independent investigation and several students came forward with allegations of misconduct, including an accusation that Winslow assaulted an assistant coach while intoxicated and racially targeted an African-American student during practice.

Last March, the university's communications director, Keith Sterling, said, "During the process of that investigation there were rumors that came to light, rumors of sexual contact. But our office did a thorough investigation, interviewed more than 50 folks, and those allegations were denied by the folks we interviewed."

No word yet on how Arizona dropping charges may affect any ongoing investigation at the U. Coach Winslow was suspended from his duties there in March and later the U did not renew his contract.

Photos

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Ashley Kewish

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast