Ex-Sydney swim coach pleads guilty to sex abuse - Illawarra Mercury

Feb. 23, 2013, 10:36 a.m.

Local former swim coach Rick Curl, whose namesake club became internationally renowned for its elite competitors, pleaded guilty Thursday in the US to one count of child sexual abuse involving one of his former swimmers, Kelley Currin, in the 1980s.

Curl spent several years in the mid-2000s coaching at a swim club on Sydney's northern beaches.

Sentencing is set for May 23. Curl, 63, faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Currin, now 43, travelled from Texas to attend Thursday morning's hearing in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville. When she entered the courtroom, she walked to the front row, sat down and immediately stared to her left to face Curl. The former coach, now with graying hair, sat across the aisle flanked by his wife, Linda, and three attorneys.

Curl later answered a series of questions from judge Marielsa Bernard related to his plea. He told the judge that he had been considering pleading guilty since December.

Currin did not speak in court, but prosecutors said she plans to deliver a victim impact statement at the sentencing.

“I've told her over and over again that she's a hero. A true hero,” Assistant State's Attorney Debbie Feinstein said after the court proceedings.

“This is not a happy day for her. This is a difficult day,” she added.

More than a quarter of a century has passed since Curl initiated sexual contact with Currin.

In 1983, Curl, then 34, began kissing and fondling the 13-year-old swimmer, according to charging documents.

When Currin, formerly Kelley Davies, turned 15, the two began having sexual intercourse. The sexual contact continued until 1987, when she left the Montgomery area to swim at the University of Texas.

In 1989, Currin and her parents entered into a $150,000 confidentiality deal with Curl, agreeing not to discuss the coach's sexual abuse.

Last summer, Currin decided that she wanted to come forward with the allegations against Curl. He was subsequently banned from USA Swimming, the sport's governing body, and criminally charged.

In the decades after his sexual contact with Currin, Curl went on to coach several Olympic champions and world-record holders.

His namesake organisation, the Curl-Burke Swim Club, has since been renamed the Nation’s Capital Swim Club.

The Washington Post