Former Dos Pueblos High School assistant football coach and security guard Justin Sell — who was convicted for stalking and engaging in sexual acts with a teenage student over a decade ago and has since face several lawsuits accusing him of abusing more former students — is now facing a third civil suit, this time with four more former students alleging abuse from 2005 to 2011.
The lawsuit, filed in Santa Barbara County Superior Court last month, also alleges that Santa Barbara Unified School District is at fault for “extreme negligence” that “enabled the open sexual assault, harassment, molestation, and abuse” of the students, according to attorneys with Slater Slater Schulman LLP, the law firm representing the four men, who are all now in their thirties.
During the 2014 criminal trial, in which prosecutors said Sell “systematically and methodically groomed” a teenage victim, Sell pleaded no contest to multiple felony charges and was sentenced to one year in County Jail and five years of probation. Since then, two victims filed civil lawsuits against Sell, with the most recent lawsuit ending in a $25 million verdict against Sell and the district, where the courts found the district was at least “80 percent at fault” for the abuse and grooming.
In the latest lawsuit, four additional former student-athletes — identified only by their initials — detail the “disturbing track record of grooming” and abuse from 2005 to 2011, a time during which it is alleged that multiple complaints made to the school and district went unacknowledged or unaddressed.
According to the complaint, Sell was “physically close with students, inappropriately touched students, sexually harassed students, and spent significant amounts of time with minor students with no justification.”
The former students said they could not easily terminate their relationships with Sell and were forced into several inappropriate situations. Some alleged incidents included Sell “standing in the doorway and staring” while the boys showered, and several occasions where Sell “struck them inappropriately” while working out in the campus gym, in full view of other teammates and coaching staff.
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that in 2009, another football coach saw Sell at a student’s house (Sell would regularly drive students to and from school in his muscle car, in violation of school policy) and although this behavior was reported to both the athletic director and school principal, Sell continued to ignore instructions to maintain boundaries with students.
“The Santa Barbara Unified School District failed to uphold its mandatory duty to protect these students by properly investigating the significant volume of warnings from students and faculty,” said Adam Slater, founding and managing partner of Slater Slater Schulman. “Instead, it condoned and enabled this horrific pattern of abuse and misconduct against high school football players. We are committed to achieving justice for our clients.”
The four plaintiffs claim that the abuse they suffered caused “severe physical and mental injuries, emotional distress,” and they are seeking damages to repay past and future costs of medical care and treatment.
Santa Barbara Unified School District spokesperson Ed Zuchelli said that the district has received the lawsuit and is reviewing the details, though he could not comment on specifics regarding the lawsuit.
“The School District is devastated any time a student finds themselves in a vulnerable position in a school environment where children should feel safe,” Zuchelli said. “The District has strict standards of professional and employee supervision, and has several methods of reporting inappropriate behavior. Any allegation of misconduct will be thoroughly and swiftly investigated.”
Anybody seeking resources for sexual assault survivors can call (800) 656-HOPE (4673) to be connected The National Sexual Assault Hotline operated by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network).
