Parents of a student at a prestigious winter sports academy in Maine are suing the school for negligence following their 16-year-old's affair with a snowboarding coach.
In a civil suit filed in U.S. District Court in Maine on Sept. 12, the parents of the student allege that Carrabassett Valley Academy failed to protect their teenager, and that the school retained the coach, Dylan Darienzzo, as an employee at its Sugarloaf affiliate despite prior knowledge of his intimate relationship with another student.
According to the suit, Darienzzo, who was 19 at the time of the incident, socialized with the student numerous times while on a competition trip to Colorado in September 2011. He obtained the student's cell phone number and communicated by text message.
Then, on an evening near the end of the trip, Darienzzo invited the student to the coaches’ condominium while other staff were not present and had sex with the teenager. Darienzzo initially faced felony sexual assault charges, but pleaded guilty to alternate charges of third degree assault in May.
The suit also claims that Carrabassett Valley Academy rejected efforts by other coaches to have Darienzzo removed from their Sugarloaf program, a business that is operated and managed by the school. Darienzzo's mother, Wendy, works in the school's development department, and is assistant to its headmaster.
The parents are seeking more than $75,000 in damages, according to court documents.
Carrabassett Valley Academy has produced 11 Olympic athletes, 80 National Titles, 10 X-Games competitors, 19 National Collegiate Athletic Association and United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association All-Americans, 28 National team members, and six World Champions since it was established in 1982.
The Huffington Post contacted Carrabassett Valley Academy for comment, but the request was not returned by press time.
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