SWIMMER TELLS STORY OF SEX ABUSE:
ONE OF THE RECURRING lines that Ariana Kukors Smith says she heard from her swim coach Sean Hutchison was that she was “the most impressive person” he had ever met. “He built this web of trust. That’s what predators do. They put you on an island, a pedestal,” says Kukors Smith, the former Olympic swimmer who grew up near Seattle. “They isolate you.”
Kukors Smith, 28, says now that Hutchison’s grooming of her began when she was 13 and then gave way to years-long sexual abuse. She says the manipulative behavior, the verbal lashings and the controlling nature of Hutchison became so prevalent in her life, that she accepted the behavior as perfectly normal. She says she decided to finally tell her story because she couldn’t “begin to fully heal” until she stepped from behind a wall of silence. Hutchison is currently under investigation by authorities from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Daily News has confirmed. What began as a local investigation by Des Moines, Washington police has largely been transferred to federal authorities, Commander Doug Jenkins of the Des Moines Police told The News Monday.
“When we learned that there was a potential for incidents that occurred outside the state of Washington, that’s how the (DHS) got involved,” Jenkins said. “It’s basically their case. Our involvement is very limited at this point. We don’t have authority in different states. It makes sense to get the feds involved.”
According to a DHS spokeswoman, a search warrant has been filed with the Superior Court for King County (Wash) in the Hutchison case. “We are still in the preliminary stages of the investigation, but our top priority on all cases involving alleged online child exploitation is identifying any possible minor victims,” said the DHS spokeswoman. One of Kukors Smith’s attorneys, Ray Mendoza, said the feds have already seized computers, cell phones and “whatever other storage devices” were in Hutchison’s home.
“It will take a while to go through the forensics, looking for certain images,” says Mendoza, referring to the alleged nude photos of Kukors Smith that Hutchison allegedly possesses. No criminal charges have yet been filed against the 46-year-old Hutchison. Kukors Smith wrote in a personal essay that Hutchison “required” her to send him nude photographs of herself daily while she was competing at the 2012 London Olympics. “He took that (Olympic) dream from me,” Kukors Smith says now. “I was programmed to think that it was normal that he was sexually abusing me in locker rooms before practice, because he loved me and he told me time and time again and that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.” Kukors Smith was also buoyed to talk publicly about her abusive past after watching all of the young women who testified at Larry Nassar’s recent sentencing hearing in Michigan. Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics team doctor, was accused of molesting hundreds of former female gymnasts and athletes under his care for decades. Nassar, 54, pleaded guilty to felony child pornography charges and in separate Michigan state cases, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact of minors. He will spend the rest of his life in prison. “We are in this space and time right now where this message is being heard. There are so many people to thank for creating this platform, for using their voice so that all of these stories can be told,” says Kukors Smith. “I’m grateful that this message is getting out.” Kukors Smith is currently in a stable, happy marriage to Matt Smith, and the couple will soon move to Austin, Texas. She hopes that by going public with her ordeal, it will encourage other abuse survivors to do the same and will also further educate parents and families on how to ensure their children are safe in whatever environment they are in — sports or otherwise. “I think it’s important to understand the process that these predators take in order to groom somebody. It doesn’t go from zero to 100,” says Kukors Smith. “They are very careful about the steps. When Sean began coaching, we all thought so highly of him already. There’s one stamp of approval. My mom was a (swim) meet director and spent a lot of time with Sean and trusted him to take care of her (three) daughters. My (two) sisters swam for him. I was so programmed to understand that everything that he said was true and I believed it and he controlled and he abused and manipulated that power in me for so long until I was finally able to get away.” ALEC TABAK FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS