U.S. Center for SafeSport Fires CEO Ju’Riese Colón

The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Center for SafeSport fired Chief Executive Officer Ju’Riese Colón on Tuesday, ending to a tenure that began in 2019 when she was hired to help the center established to combat sex abuse in Olympic sport.

The Associated Press said it was told of Colón’s removal in an email. The center said its board chair, April Holmes, would lead an interim management committee composed of board members while they search for Colón’s replacement.

“We are grateful for Ju’Riese’s leadership and service,” Holmes said in the statement sent to the AP. “As we look ahead, we will continue to focus on the Center’s core mission of changing sport culture to keep athletes safe from abuse.”

The U.S. Center for SafeSport has been dealing with revelations it had hired an investigator who would later be charged with rape. Former Pennsylvania vice squad officer Jason Krasley was hired as an investigator for the center in 2021 but was fired in November when the center learned he had been arrested for allegedly stealing money from a drug bust he was a part of while with the force.

The center made no public mention of that until AP reported about the connection Dec. 26. Then, two weeks later, Krasley was arrested again, this time for rape, sex trafficking and other crimes — an episode Colón to conceded was “devastating” for the center.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, opened an inquiry into the center’s handling of the Krasley affair. In a letter to Colón, he wrote: “Accusations of rape and other sex crimes against any SafeSport investigator are especially concerning given SafeSport’s mandate to protect athletes from similar abuse.”

Colón’s response to Grassley last month revealed more about the case, including that the center hired Krasley despite knowing he was the subject of an internal investigation. Grassley sent another list of questions to Colón, answers for which were requested by May 1. The center said it plans to deliver the answers by the deadline.

The 8-year-old U.S. Center for SafeSport was borne out of the U.S. Olympic movement’s inability to deal with wide-ranging abuse crises at USA Swimming, USA Taekwondo and, most notably, USA Gymnastics involving now-imprisoned doctor Larry Nassar. Congress passed laws requiring most of SafeSport’s money (the center reported nearly $24.8 million in revenue in 2023) come from the organizations it oversaw.

In her five-plus years at the Denver-based center, Colón dealt with long delays in processing an ever-growing caseload, or the stream of complaints from both accusers and accused who had been dragged through a resolution process that could take years. The Associated Press said the organization, at last count, was receiving more than 150 new reports a week but had fewer than three dozen full-time investigators to sort through them.

Colón insisted the center’s mission to deal not only with Olympic-level sports, but sports down to the grassroots — a remit that covers some 11 million athletes — and pushed for more funding to beef up the operation.