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Lawsuit alleges Navarro College cheer program covered up sexual assault of cheerleader
The highly successful cheer team became more widely known after the Netflix docuseries ‘Cheer’ debuted. But a lawsuit accuses the program of a culture of sexual harassment, assault and intimidation.
CORSICANA, Texas - A lawsuit accuses Navarro College and its well-known cheer team coach of covering up the sexual assault of one of its athletes.
The highly successful cheer team became more widely known after the Netflix docuseries ‘Cheer’ debuted.
But a lawsuit accuses the program of a culture of sexual harassment, assault, and intimidation.
A spokesperson said the college is prepared to defend itself in court, while the woman’s attorney tells FOX 4 they are hoping this leads to change, not just at Navarro College, but elsewhere.
There are few things bigger in Corsicana than the Navarro College cheer team.
The successful squad catapulted from icons in the cheer community to a national audience with the Netflix docuseries ‘Cheer’ starting in 2020.
But the team and its leader, coach Monica Aldama, now find themselves in a different kind of spotlight.
A lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the team of covering up the sexual assault of a now-former cheerleader, along with systemic problems.
FOX 4 is not identifying the cheerleader.
According to the lawsuit, the woman was sexually assaulted by a fellow cheerleader while she was trying to go to sleep in her dorm in September 2021.
The woman said she told several teammates about what happened, and at a party that night, a team leader "…told her, ‘you just need to drink it off and get your mind off of it’ because ‘that’s what Navarro girls do — they drink. We don’t tell anyone.’"
Mark Lanier is an attorney representing the woman who filed suit.
"The public needs to know that there are cheer members who've been harassed, intimidated, that that's happened to my client. They've attempted to silence her," he said.
The lawsuit claims the team leader then had two male cheerleaders follow the woman so she wouldn’t report the assault.
It also claims that at one point, several veteran cheerleaders pointed a gun at the woman and her boyfriend, threatening to kill them for reporting the assault.
The suit said "when Plaintiff started to tell Aldama about the assault, Aldama interrupted her, saying,
‘Let’s not make this a big deal. I want the best for you and I will help you cheer wherever you want.’"
"Our main goals in filing this lawsuit are to be sure that the system that bred and permitted this type of activity is brought to light and stopped," Lanier said.
In a statement Thursday, Navarro College denied wrongdoing, telling FOX 4: "The safety and welfare of students is always of utmost priority. Navarro College prohibits sexual harassment and sexual misconduct against all students and is deeply committed to providing an educational environment free from sex discrimination and sexual assault."
The lawsuit claims Navarro has a culture of sexual harassment, violence, and intimidation, and points to recent incidents, including the 2020 arrest of cheer athlete Jerry Harris on child pornography charges.
He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Lanier said his client reported the assault to campus police and the college’s Title IX office. Both discouraged her from doing so.
"Her dream and what she had worked out every day of her life really to achieve was cheering on a nationally ranked team and then going on and propelling that into a career to help others do the same," Lanier said. "And her dream of cheering on a nationally ranked team is over. She's been blackballed from many nationally ranked programs."
Lanier said they believe they’ll obtain evidence to back of their claims through discovery and depositions.
The lawsuit does state there were multiple witnesses during several of the alleged incidents.