YOUNGSTOWN — Multiple Ursuline High School officials and students have been named as defendants in a federal lawsuit.

The suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio by the parents of a student, alleges that the boy was physically and sexually assaulted by members of the football team and that the school dismissed the family’s complaints and engaged in a coverup.

According to a news release issued by Subodh Chandra of the Chandra Law Firm in Cleveland, the incident, which allegedly occurred during a football team field trip to Florida, Tennessee and Alabama in June, included video and photos of the acts, in which the boy was partially or entirely nude, and those were sent to other students and members of the community. That constitutes dissemination of child pornography.

Chandra states that the suit asserts violations of Title IX protections, failure to protect students from foreseeable harm and violations of state laws in Ohio and the other three states.

The suit names as defendants: Principal Matthew Sammartino, Assistant Principal Margaret Damore, head football coach Daniel Reardon, assistant coaches Timothy McGlynn and Christian Syrianoudis, the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown and 11 football players as well as their parents.

The suit accuses the football players of multiple crimes including criminal hazing, assault, sexual assault, aggravated assault, battery, kidnapping, false imprisonment, stalking, child pornography, sexual cyberharassment, distributing lewd and obscene materials, telecommunications harassment and witness / victim intimidation.

“This case is about accountability,” Chandra said. “No family should have to endure the trauma this family suffered at the hands of other students and then at the hands of school officials who, the suit alleges, excused, ignored and even tried to silence them.”

Chandra’s release states that the coaches were aware of their players’ misconduct before, during and after the June incidents and failed to take action. It also alleges that when the family brought the incident to the attention of McGlynn on June 16, he dismissed it as “boys being boys.”

A TERRIFYING ORDEAL

The suit, Chandra said, lays out how the boy was assailed by multiple football players at separate times at hotels where the team was staying. The release states that on the first night of the trip, one player went to the boy’s room to “initiat(e)” him. The boy was hiding in a closet, but the player found him, pulled him out by the neck or throat and slammed him face up onto the bed. An incident of humiliation and sexual assault allegedly followed, which several other players recorded.

On the fourth night of the trip, other players came into the boy’s hotel room and found him trying to hide in the bathroom. They again allegedly began to humiliate him before another player warned them that coaches were in the hallway.

Shortly after, another player allegedly lured the boy to his room under false pretenses and when he entered, several other players accosted him, removing his clothes and physically assaulting him.

All of the attacks allegedly were recorded and shared widely via Snapchat.

Chadra states that the suit alleges the players carried out the attacks on others as well, which they called “taking butts” and they kept the victims’ underwear as trophies. They also allegedly discussed the planning and completion of these activities in front of the coaches, who are accused of doing nothing to stop them.

Additionally, the boy’s family alleges that football players involved in the June incidents later attempted to intimidate their daughter to prevent her from speaking out about the attacks on her brother. The suit states that the players showed up at her workplace and other sites where she was known to be, and the girl was forced to transfer to a different school.

ADMINISTRATIVE FAILURES ALLEGED

Chandra’s release states that the family brought the matter, complete with video evidence, to Sammartino and Damore, but Sammartino appeared uninterested. Damore allegedly used her own phone to record the video evidence, but despite having that evidence, the suit claims, the school did nothing to discipline the coaches or players.

The lawsuit claims that the June incident is just the most recent in a pattern of abusive hazing that has gone on for years at the school.

The suit alleges that Sammartino and Damore also deleted posts about the attacks from the school’s Facebook account and that some football-related Facebook accounts were deleted. They also are accused of telling players not to discuss the incident. The suit further accuses them of issuing false and misleading statements to Ursuline families, stating that the incident was isolated and involved only a handful of players. The multiple alleged incidents, Chandra states, included as many as 25 players, including 12 alleged assailants and multiple witnesses.

The suit also charges Ursuline administration and the Diocese with hiring coaches with questionable backgrounds, including Reardon.

The release states that Reardon resigned in 2011 under “a cloud of negativity” after he recruited players who repeatedly engaged in misconduct and that he routinely ignored their behavior.

The suit alleges that Ursuline President Father Richard Murphy urged then-Bishop George Murry — who has since died — to rehire Reardon anyway.

The suit makes similar claims about McGlynn, who is said to have resigned from his position at Champion High School in October 2020 following allegations of physical abuse and threats against players. The suit states that even though Ursuline officials knew McGlynn was placed on administrative leave and told to have no contact with the team in Champion, they hired him as an assistant anyway.

The newspaper reached out to both Sammartino and the Diocese of Youngstown for comment.

Sammartino did not return the call, but the Diocese sent a statement:

“We’ve just received the complaint today. We’re reviewing it with our own legal counsel. We have no further comment at this time.”