Judge seals lawsuit over basketball team sexual abuse claims

FAYETTEVILLE — A federal judge has sealed the initial complaint in a lawsuit against the Huntsville School District alleging members of a boys basketball team were sexually abused.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks is pending the resolution of a motion to seal the entire case, the judge wrote.

The motion to seal was filed by the school district last week. The district argues that the case and proceedings should be sealed to protect the identities of the victims and other children involved.

The Madison County Record last week filed a motion to intervene in the case. The paper argues that it has an interest in protecting open proceedings for itself and the public.

The lawsuit was filed last month in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville by Rebecca Nelle on behalf of her child, identified as B.N. In her suit, Nelle said the school district knew students on the boys middle school basketball team were being sexually harassed and assaulted by older boys and did little or nothing to stop it.

The complaint alleges federal Title IX violations arising from deliberate indifference to, and actual knowledge of, sexual harassment and sexual assault of multiple students; the district’s failure to promptly and properly investigate reports of sexual harassment; and claims a hostile education environment was created that denied B.N. and other students access to educational opportunities.

The district has denied liability and allegations in Nelle’s complaint. The district also has denied that school officials knew of the abuse and did nothing about it.

The district also seeks a gag order to prohibit all attorneys and participants from

talking to the media about the case or talking about the case on social media in an effort to limit pretrial publicity.

In the motion to seal, the district argues Nelle’s complaint provides information that could be used to identify every child involved.

Both state law and Title IX require identities of child victims, their families, perpetrators, witnesses and others, including those making reports, be kept confidential, according to the motion. The school district argues that that extends to judicial proceedings.

The motion also argues that survivors and their parents might refuse to participate in law enforcement investigations for fear the children won’t be able to remain anonymous.

According to Nelle’s suit, freshman players on the team would “engage in forcible sexual assault against multiple boys’ middle school players by having one or more students holding an eighth-grade team member down while one or more middle school basketball players would engage in what was called ‘baptism’ and ‘bean dipping.’”

“Baptism,” according to the lawsuit, “refers to the placing of one’s genitals on the face and/or in the mouth of another student. ‘Bean-dipping,’ as the term is used in this complaint, refers to placing a student’s rectum and anus on the face and particularly the nose of another student.”

B.N., according to the lawsuit, was abused on 14 occasions while being held down against his will by older basketball players at the school. He was then threatened if he told school authorities or his parents of the abuse.

According to the lawsuit, at least 17 middle school or high school players were victimized, and at least one student paid another student not to abuse him.