The US Middle for SafeSport has completely banned Kevin ‘Scott’ Morris, a former contractor and director for the USA CRITS sequence, from participation in actions and competitions with USA Biking.
SafeSport listing the ruling of ‘everlasting ineligibility’, dated September 27, 2023, for “felony disposition – involving a minor” and “felony disposition – sexual misconduct”, obtained from the nonprofit’s Centralized Disciplinary Database on their web site.
It had been two years since SafeSport quickly suspended Morris for allegations of misconduct. At the moment, on September 14, 2021, SafeSport didn’t make the character of the allegations public.
“It [this matter] was at all times concerning authorized issues way back resolved. I by no means didn’t declare my innocence in these issues,” Morris informed Cyclingnews on Tuesday. “These issues resulted in expenses of sexual misconduct being dismissed earlier than I had the [USA Cycling] license in query. There was a no contest plea to a pc companies crime. I hate that any individual seemingly weaponized SafeSport to harm me and the game below different pretenses.”
Morris additionally informed Cyclingnews this week that he declined an enchantment course of in 2023 with SafeSport “as a result of there was no assure that I may get an impartial arbitrator and the extra hurt was frankly already executed. I simply need to transfer on.”
In October 2021, Cyclingnews reported that Morris had been quickly suspended by SafeSport for allegations of misconduct. The matter was dropped at gentle after plenty of US-based groups shared on social media that they might pull out USA CRITS resulting from ‘revelations’ concerning the race organisation nonetheless using a person with a SafeSport suspension.
Aevolo and L39ION of Los Angeles had been the primary two groups to tug away from the criterium sequence, which had ended for the season and appeared to relaunch in 2022. Numerous the occasions additionally withdrew from consideration to proceed within the sequence, together with Tulsa Robust.
The groups and occasions mentioned on social media that they discovered it unacceptable that Swagger LLC, the corporate organising USA CRITS, which had employed Morris as a contractor, had not fired him straight. A spokesperson for Swagger mentioned they adopted SafeSport pointers when Morris was suspended on September 14, 2021, and “restricted him from occasions and any contact with athletes”.
After 4 years in administration with Swagger, Morris’ employment with the corporate ended quickly after the social media posts by groups in October 2021. Later within the month, Morris spoke briefly with Cyclingnews, claiming that the suspension was triggered when he entered a criterium race earlier within the 12 months, and somebody alerted SafeSport to his previous.
“There was a brief discovering of measures taken based mostly on some previous expenses that I had 15 years in the past that had been dismissed,” Morris mentioned within the interview in October 2021 with Cyclingnews concerning the momentary suspension.
Morris was arrested in February 2007 in Georgia on 5 felony counts of sexual exploitation of kids after detectives allegedly discovered recordsdata and sexually express photographs of kids on his private pc, in response to The Related Press. On the time of the arrest, Morris was working for a chamber of commerce in a Georgia county, and he was on bond and home arrest for 20 counts of kid pornography in Virginia from 2004, the AP story acknowledged.
He was indicted in November 2008 in Georgia for 45 counts of sexual exploitation of kids associated to ‘films and pictures of minors engaged in sexually express conduct’ that had been alleged to be on his dwelling pc. Morris pursued an enchantment course of by way of the Court docket of Appeals of Georgia, which continued by way of 2013.
All expenses had been later “deserted”, in response to stories, with Morris accepting a “no contest plea to a pc companies crime”. He has at all times protested his innocence, and the costs weren’t pursued.
Whereas SafeSport can not touch upon particulars of the Morris case, the character of a felony disposition is predicated on “a Participant to be or have been topic to any disposition or decision of a felony continuing, apart from an adjudication of not responsible”, in response to the SafeSport Code. A felony disposition can embody “an adjudication of guilt or admission to a felony violation, a plea to the cost or a lesser included offense”, in addition to conditional dismissal or different preparations.
The Code for Protected Sport states that “it’s a violation for a participant to have interaction in or tolerate Prohibited Conduct”, which incorporates ‘Legal Expenses or Tendencies’. The latest ruling from the investigation didn’t contain any new expenses towards Morris.