By Eddie Pells, AP National Writer
Ju’Riese Colon is out as CEO of the U.S. Center for SafeSport in the latest and most visceral sign of a crisis that began after revelations the center had hired an investigator who would later be charged with rape.
The center told The Associated Press about Colon’s departure Tuesday in an email. It brought an abrupt end to a tenure that began in 2019, when she was hired to help the then-2-year-old center, which was established to combat sex abuse in Olympic sports, bring its operation to full speed.
The center said its board chair, April Holmes, would lead an interim management committee composed of members of the board of directors while the board searches for Colon’s replacement.
“We are grateful for Ju’Riese’s leadership and service,” Holmes said in the statement sent to 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.”
Colon failed to fully untangle the center’s struggles 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.
No issue, however, illustrated the center’s struggles more than its handling of former Pennsylvania vice squad officer Jason Krasley.
Krasley was hired as an investigator for the center in 2021, but was abruptly fired last 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 on Dec. 26. Then, two weeks later, Krasley was arrested again, this time for rape, sex trafficking and other crimes — an episode that Colon conceded was “devastating” for the center.
The AP reporting led Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to open an inquiry into the center’s handling of the Krasley affair.
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