The USA Middle for SafeSport has completely banned Kevin ‘Scott’ Morris, a former contractor and director for the US CRITS collection, from participation in actions and competitions with USA Biking.
SafeSport checklist the ruling of ‘everlasting ineligibility’, dated September 27, 2023, for “legal disposition – involving a minor” and “legal disposition – sexual misconduct”, got from the nonprofit’s Centralized Disciplinary Database on their site.
It were two years since SafeSport briefly 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] used to be at all times relating to felony issues way back resolved. I by no means didn’t declare my innocence in those issues,” Morris advised Cyclingnews on Tuesday. “The ones issues led to fees of sexual misconduct being pushed aside ahead of I had the [USA Cycling] license in query. There used to be a no contest plea to a pc services and products crime. I hate that someone most likely weaponized SafeSport to harm me and the game underneath different pretenses.”
Morris additionally advised Cyclingnews this week that he declined an attraction procedure in 2023 with SafeSport “as a result of there used to be no ensure that I may just get an impartial arbitrator and the extra hurt used to be frankly already achieved. I simply wish to transfer on.”
In October 2021, Cyclingnews reported that Morris were briefly suspended by way of SafeSport for allegations of misconduct. The topic used to be delivered to gentle after plenty of US-based groups shared on social media that they might pull out USA CRITS because of ‘revelations’ in regards to the race organisation nonetheless using a person with a SafeSport suspension.
Aevolo and L39ION of Los Angeles had been the primary two groups to drag clear of the criterium collection, which had ended for the season and seemed to relaunch in 2022. Numerous the occasions additionally withdrew from attention to proceed within the collection, together with Tulsa Tricky.
The groups and occasions mentioned on social media that they discovered it unacceptable that Swagger LLC, the corporate setting up USA CRITS, which had employed Morris as a contractor, had no longer fired him immediately. A spokesperson for Swagger mentioned they adopted SafeSport pointers when Morris used to be suspended on September 14, 2021, and “limited him from occasions and any touch with athletes”.
After 4 years in control with Swagger, Morris’ employment with the corporate ended quickly after the social media posts by way of groups in October 2021. Later within the month, Morris spoke in brief with Cyclingnews, claiming that the suspension used to be prompted when he entered a criterium race previous within the yr, and anyone alerted SafeSport to his previous.
“There used to be a short lived discovering of measures taken in response to some previous fees that I had 15 years in the past that had been pushed aside,” Morris mentioned within the interview in October 2021 with Cyclingnews in regards to the transient suspension.
Morris used to be arrested in February 2007 in Georgia on 5 legal counts of sexual exploitation of youngsters after detectives allegedly discovered recordsdata and sexually particular photographs of youngsters on his private laptop, consistent with The Related Press. On the time of the arrest, Morris used to be operating for a chamber of trade in a Georgia county, and he used to be on bond and area arrest for 20 counts of kid pornography in Virginia from 2004, the AP tale mentioned.
He used to be indicted in November 2008 in Georgia for 45 counts of sexual exploitation of youngsters associated with ‘films and photographs of minors engaged in sexually particular habits’ that had been speculated to be on his house laptop. Morris pursued an attraction procedure during the Courtroom of Appeals of Georgia, which persisted via 2013.
All fees had been later “deserted”, consistent with stories, with Morris accepting a “no contest plea to a pc services and products crime”. He has at all times protested his innocence, and the costs weren’t pursued.
Whilst SafeSport can not touch upon main points of the Morris case, the character of a legal disposition is in response to “a Player to be or had been matter to any disposition or answer of a legal continuing, as opposed to an adjudication of no longer accountable”, consistent with the SafeSport Code. A legal disposition can come with “an adjudication of guilt or admission to a legal violation, a plea to the fee or a lesser integrated offense”, in addition to conditional dismissal or different preparations.
The Code for Secure Game states that “this can be a violation for a player to have interaction in or tolerate Prohibited Habits”, which incorporates ‘Legal Fees or Inclinations’. The new ruling from the investigation didn’t contain any new fees in opposition to Morris.
