Colleges give athletes a pass on sex crimes committed as minors

Annabelle Boudreau arrived in court with her victim impact statement in hand. 

She had been too exhausted to attend the reading of the verdict. Her cousin’s sentencing hearing, though, she wouldn’t dare miss.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, she described to the judge the years of mental and emotional scars he had caused. Flashbacks. Panic attacks. Nightmares. Angry outbursts. The rift it had carved within her family.

“I will not allow Gus Grimstad to walk freely among society knowing what he is capable of,” she said, reading from her statement. “I know the tricks, the lies and the manipulation he is capable of. I wouldn’t wish him upon my worst enemy.”

A wave of relief washed over Boudreau when she finished. But that relief turned to shock, she said, when Grimstad’s attorney referenced a letter in support of his character written by his coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the NCAA Division III college where Grimstad competes for the men’s swimming team.

“We knew that something was wrong, and that the school wasn’t informed properly,” Boudreau told USA TODAY.

Grimstad’s case exposes the shortcomings of a recently adopted NCAA rule that requires schools to annually vet athletes for incidents of sexual or violent misconduct. Although athletes typically have been minors for most of their lives by the time they play in college, the rule does not require schools to ask about juvenile cases. Many schools don’t. 

Days earlier, a Minnesota juvenile court jury had found Grimstad responsible for sexually abusing Boudreau on several occasions over three years, beginning when he was 14 and she was 11. At his sentencing in December 2022, a judge would order Grimstad – by then an adult, adjudicated delinquent of crimes committed as a minor – to undergo sex offender treatment and register with the state’s Predatory Offender list for a decade.

Reached by phone, Grimstad, now 21, told USA TODAY he disclosed the matter to his coaches but declined to comment further, referring additional questions to his school.

“On behalf of Mr. Grimstad, we deny all allegations made by Ms. Boudreau,” his attorney, David Suchar, said in an email. “Mr. Grimstad maintains his innocence, has completed court ordered probation and is continuing to focus on being a contributing member of society.”

Grimstad’s primary defense in court was that Boudreau had invented a false memory with no basis in reality, court records show. He appealed the verdict, arguing the judge erred by not allowing him to call an expert in false memory as a witness. His appeal was denied by the state’s Court of Appeals in November, and the Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed that denial on Jan. 31, effectively ending the case. 

UW-Stevens Point officials declined to speak to USA TODAY or answer written questions about their handling of the situation.

“The university learned about general circumstances surrounding the student’s behavior as a juvenile after his arrival to campus,” spokesperson Carrie Heibler said in a statement. “Campus Police, members of the Threat Assessment Team and other university officials reviewed the matter and determined there was no ongoing concern for public safety. Due to federal student privacy laws, we will have no further immediate comment.” 

Boudreau, now 18, had assumed that when the case ended, so too would Grimstad’s sports career. She hoped his sentence would keep him far away from other women and girls. 

As she would learn, however, in the world of college sports it wouldn’t even be enough to keep him out of the pool. 

One month later, Grimstad led his team to first-place finishes in three events at one meet. UW-Stevens Point would name him Athlete of the Week.

Grimstad’s case raises thorny questions about where colleges should draw the line on athletes who engaged in criminal acts as children. Generally, juvenile delinquency records don’t prevent people from enrolling in school or getting jobs as adults, and recidivism rates among juvenile sex offenders are low. But some experts say that uplifting and celebrating athletes found at fault for sexual violence excuses their behavior, undercuts campus safety and sends a message that success in sports takes precedence.

“We have to think about the bigger picture of people’s lives,” said Kristy McCray, an Otterbein University professor who studies sexual violence in sports. “I’m not saying that the worst choice you’ve made in your life at age 14 should dictate the rest of your life – but it should dictate some of what you end up doing.”

Even though Grimstad’s school and conference now know of his history, they continue to honor him. Each new accolade, Boudreau and her parents said, further trivializes their suffering.

“He continues to do what he’s been doing his entire life and has had no sort of punishment,” Boudreau said. “It’s not right. It’s not fair. It’s outrageous.”

NCAA rule requires colleges to 'take reasonable steps'

To evaluate whether to recruit athletes with histories of sexual violence, athletic departments first have to be aware of incidents in their past.

Many are not asking the right questions.

The NCAA rule, which took effect in the 2022-23 academic year, requires colleges to “take reasonable steps” to determine whether athletes have been criminally convicted or disciplined by a school for a range of serious misconduct, including sexual assault, dating violence and assault causing serious bodily harm. 

The NCAA’s highest governing body adopted the rule in response to a series of scandals in which coaches recruited athletes with histories of violence against women, some of whom were later accused of reoffending. The NCAA Board of Governors, however, left the details to each school. It declined to issue a uniform questionnaire, centralize the vetting process or define “reasonable steps.” 

The result is a patchwork of protocols full of loopholes and gaps.

For example, UW-Stevens Point’s disclosure form, a copy of which USA TODAY obtained through a public records request, asks: “Have you been convicted of, pled guilty to or pled no contest to any crime involving acts defined above as interpersonal violence, sexual violence or other acts of violence?”

Juvenile delinquency adjudications are generally considered distinct from criminal convictions, said Michael Caldwell, a psychologist and University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer who studies and treats juvenile sex offenders.

Last year, USA TODAY reviewed the disclosure forms used by 44 public universities that competed in the NCAA’s Power 5 conferences – the highest echelon of college sports. Only seven of them asked about juvenile cases: Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Illinois, Colorado and Louisiana State. 

NCAA Survey:Colleges rely on honor system when checking sexual assault background of student athletes

Of the 44 schools, Iowa State was the only one whose questionnaire specifically asked athletes about offenses that required registration with law enforcement.

The NCAA, whose board comprises primarily college presidents and athletic directors, declined at the time to answer questions about individual cases or its policy’s effectiveness.

“It is incredibly important and, indeed, the responsibility of each institution to comply with all policy components and to develop any necessary processes to ensure they successfully implement the policy and can attest to their compliance,” NCAA spokesperson Chris Radford said in an emailed statement.

The NCAA should create a standardized questionnaire with more comprehensive questions, McCray said, adding that no number of boxes on a form alone will change the culture of college sports. 

“It would not be that hard to figure out if they wanted to know,” she said. “To me, this is just all about compliance and regulation and not actually thinking about the root causes of sexual violence and rape culture.”

Colleges allow accused athletes to keep playing

Even when schools know of athletes’ troubled juvenile histories, nothing in the NCAA policy stops schools from letting them play. 

In an infamous case, Oregon State University kept on its baseball team a star pitcher named Luke Heimlich after a news article revealed he was a registered sex offender who had pleaded guilty in juvenile court as a 15-year-old to sexually abusing his 6-year-old niece. 

University of Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura and University of Wisconsin-Madison safety Kamo’i Latu pleaded guilty in juvenile court in Hawaii to sexually assaulting a female classmate hours after leading their high school football team to victory in the state championship game, according to a lawsuit the woman filed against them in December 2021. The lawsuit remains ongoing after a judge rejected a recent proposed settlement.

In April 2021, another woman filed a lawsuit accusing two University of Kansas football players – center Mike Novitsky and safety Andrew Russell – and two other men of raping her in upstate New York the night before their high school freshman orientation, when all of them were 14 years old. The lawsuit said the men took photos of her during the assault, posted them on Snapchat and showed them to other classmates, who humiliated and ridiculed her for years.

In all three instances, after learning of the allegations, the colleges allowed the accused athletes – who deny the allegations – to continue playing. 

Today, none of the four schools’ disclosure forms ask about sex offender registration or civil lawsuits. 

Kansas is among the few schools whose form does ask about juvenile cases. It is also one of, if not the only, Power 5 school that disqualifies athletes from competing if they have been found delinquent in a juvenile case of a sexual or violent offense.

Its tough stance did not, however, extend to Novitsky or Russell, who do not appear to have ever been charged in juvenile or criminal court. The parties settled the lawsuit this summer after a judge denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss. Details of that settlement are private.

The woman and her attorneys did not respond to numerous messages seeking comment. Novitsky and Russell declined interview requests.

“These allegations against our families are just that, allegations,” attorney Michael Appelbaum said in a statement on behalf of all four of the accused men's families. “The civil action was vigorously defended and was resolved and discontinued early in the discovery process to avoid further litigation and expense for all concerned.”

Kansas athletics spokesperson Daniel Berk declined to answer questions about the case, including when school officials learned about it and whether the athletes disclosed it. Kansas head football coach Lance Leipold, who recruited both players and had coached Novitsky at the University at Buffalo, also declined an interview. 

“The University of Kansas is aware of a resolved civil lawsuit filed against two current KU student-athletes, related to alleged conduct from almost a decade ago when the student-athletes were fourteen years old,” Berk said in an emailed statement. 

“The student-athletes were never charged or held liable for any of the allegations in the civil lawsuit and the student-athletes have denied the allegations. The University has followed all applicable policies and procedures with respect to this matter.”

Initial charges land during freshman year

For two days in Hennepin County juvenile court, Boudreau took the witness stand and fielded questions about the darkest moments of her life.

Grimstad’s grooming behaviors started during family gatherings in a basement bedroom of their grandmother’s house in Edina, a Minneapolis suburb, Boudreau said. She described her cousin’s made-up games and awkward massages that would lead to him groping her body or placing her hands on his genitals, and how at night he would climb in her bed and rub his erection on her. 

Over time, Boudreau said, she became terrified to stay in the room and instead slept in a closet under the staircase.

After three years of inappropriate touching, she said, Grimstad raped her during a family vacation in Arizona in December 2019. She disclosed the incident in May 2020 to her mother, who took her to the hospital and contacted police. The Gilbert Police Department investigated but no charges were filed. 

In subsequent months, while seeing a therapist and attending group sessions at a child advocacy center, Boudreau reported the sexual touching at her grandmother’s house that would become the subject of the juvenile court case. Grimstad denies the allegations in Arizona, as well as any “over-the-clothes touching,” according to his attorney, Suchar.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s office charged Grimstad with three counts of criminal sexual conduct, according to a letter from the office in December 2021 notifying her family of the charges. It would later add a fourth charge for the same crime.

The initial charges came during the fall of Grimstad’s freshman year at UW-Stevens Point, just a few weeks into the start of swimming season. The NCAA rule would kick in the following summer, at the start of his sophomore year, while his case was ongoing. The university’s form doesn’t ask about pending cases.

After a weeklong trial in November 2022, the 12-person jury found Grimstad guilty on three of the four counts. According to Suchar, the jury found Grimstad not guilty of the charge involving sharing a bed with Boudreau.

In addition to requiring treatment and registration as a sex offender, a judge ordered him to serve probation for two years and pay $7,300 in restitution to Boudreau. The judge also imposed a stayed sentence of 90 months in prison, which Grimstad would not end up having to serve.

Under a 1994 Minnesota law designed to keep child offenders out of adult prisons, minors in “extended jurisdiction juvenile” – or EJJ – cases receive both a juvenile disposition and an adult sentence, which is stayed until their 21st birthday. Grimstad turned 21 in February and apparently met the required conditions.

Treatment is a far more effective tool than incarceration for rehabilitating first-time juvenile sex offenders, for whom recidivism rates are generally below 5%, said Caldwell, the psychologist. 

For children, understanding the bounds of appropriate sexual behavior is part of their brain development, Caldwell said. So judges can take some comfort in imposing EJJ sentences because it provides an accountability mechanism for the small fraction of perpetrators who don’t respond well to treatment.

“If you have that typical kid whose actions are part of this developmental process and who just goes off the rails, he should be someone who you can get back on track and will do well for the rest of his life,” Caldwell said. “EJJ gives you kind of a backstop in case that doesn't happen and he continues to have some serious problems.”

'It’s so infuriating and burns in your gut'

About a month after the sentence was handed down, Annabelle’s parents saw online that Grimstad was competing again for UW-Stevens Point, which had named him Athlete of the Week. 

Fired up, her father, Chris Boudreau, contacted an associate communications director for the athletic department and told him about the case. He told USA TODAY that he warned them about his nephew’s proximity to female swimmers, who travel to meets with the men, and to children who use the college’s public pool. 

He sent the athletic director, president and other school officials a link to Grimstad’s page on the online sex offender registry for his home state of Iowa, which noted his adjudication and the age of his victim: 0 to 13. 

A few days later, UW-Stevens Point athletic director Brad Duckworth called back. According to Chris Boudreau, Duckworth said that athletes must fill out a conduct disclosure form before each season and indicated Grimstad had not checked any of the boxes. The 2022-23 swimming season had started before the verdict.

Duckworth, he said, added that Grimstad’s coach – the one who wrote the character reference letter on his behalf at his sentencing – had been unaware of the details of the case. Duckworth did not respond to multiple email and phone messages seeking comment. 

According to Chris Boudreau, Duckworth also expressed concern, saying he didn’t care if Grimstad was Michael Phelps, the Olympic gold medalist swimmer. His tone, however, changed when he called back a few weeks later, the father said. This time, Duckworth said his hands were tied because the school had been unable to verify Grimstad’s conduct record.

By then, Grimstad’s page had been removed from the Iowa sex offender registry website – a standard practice when the offender moves to another state. A search for Grimstad’s name on Minnesota’s online Predatory Offender List yields no hits; the state reserves its online registry for registered offenders who fall out of compliance with their reporting requirements. He also does not appear on Wisconsin’s online registry, whose website states that juvenile information is not open to public view.

Several studies have found sex offender registration can cause significant harm to juveniles while the safety benefits are minimal.

Chris Boudreau said Duckworth assured him that Grimstad would have to fill out the form again for the 2023-24 school year. When the season began in October, he was still on the team’s roster.

Chris Boudreau sent the school documents – including the Court of Appeals’ and Supreme Court’s public denials of Grimstad’s appeal – but it seems to have made no difference. Now a junior, Grimstad had a standout year, racking up the 10th-most points of all male swimmers in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

UW-Stevens Point named Grimstad Athlete of the Week again in January for the third time. Second-place finishes in the butterfly and individual medley and a team win in the 200-yard medley relay at the WIAC championships last month earned him another honor: All-Conference.

“It’s so infuriating and burns in your gut,” Chris Boudreau said. “To see him celebrated after what he did to my daughter? It’s beyond all comprehension.”

Kenny Jacoby is an investigative reporter for USA TODAY covering sports and sexual misconduct. Contact him by email at [email protected] or follow him on X @kennyjacoby.