[Rondadori]

My mom has a saying "Physical courage is the easy kind"

So lets see how many people get mad at me this time.

Everyone's in a rage over the refereeing from the trials. Well who's in charge of awarding ref ranks? Who is everyone sucking up to and making calls according to his preference?

Non other than Fletcher - "the alleged" molester - Thornton

Yeah I said it! I'll get real consequeses for putting that out there but I don't care. Everyone was up in arms about Daniel Doyle, but USA judo didnt bat and eyelash at Fletcher Thornton's DOZENS of documented accusations of molesting young girls. One of our "A" referees even covered his eyes and refused to look at the police reports these girls filed.

And if you're a mod thinking of deleting this - yes this isn't small talk about "my first ukemi" but these issues need to be discussed. This is playing with the safety and careers of our athletes.

How is this man still allowed to be in the same VENUE of our athletes let alone protected by USAjudo and kept in an extremely influential position?

So yeah, this could be deleted pretty quick, so whatever I'll repost it on my OWN website, rondarousey.net
but I am personally outraged that this man is toying with the fates of our players, I'm sure my fellow athletes that got cheated out of their team slot - not to mention their family and friends would feel the same way. Or the young girls he "allegedly" molested, their families, and their friends !
No, I didn't get cheated - mostly because I never gave them a chance too - but I feel like I'm one of the few people in a good position to say something about it. I'm already on the team - try to stop me now!

If this man is not removed from office and banned for attending any and all USAjudo events by the time the olympics are over; I will NEVER renew my USJI membership or support anything to do with that organization again. And I would encourage my family, friends, and teammates to do the same.

Okay you can take you punches at me now, I'm braced and can take a hell of a hit.

**Please note I have said "allegedly" to prevent being libelous***

This post has been edited by Rondadori: 20 June 2008 - 04:31 PM

[Judoheidi]

Hey Ronda,
Can you please provide links to the documents you a referencing? Thanks!

[ptnippon]

I have no issues with the above post. Why he is still allowed to remain in USA Judo is a question I've been asking for a long time.

[Rondadori]

I'll get them from my mom as soon as she wakes up, the documents were sent anonymously to the house of almost every major name in usa judo in 2005

[stacey]

Good for you!

This stuff needs to come out and get addressed. That's half the reason everybody was up in arms about Doyle - he was not only named and charged (in criminal court, no less), but the newspapers picked up the story. It becomes easy to condemn when the light of day is shined on these types of misdeeds. Unfortunately, Thorton has not had this experience. US Judo may have received complaints, but we can't get access to any of it. No paper has yet to dig in and run with it, and no jurisdiction has had the guts to charge him. I look forward to this stuff finally coming out. If Thorton is innocent, he should want the complaints brought out so they can be examined and condemned by true scrutiny. Instead, it's been buried. All we get is rumor, innuendo, and USJI putting its stamp of approval on this man without addressing the issues.Let's see 1. how long this stays up, 2. whether this triggers anything positive from JI.

Oh, and great job at the trials.

Rondadori, on Jun 20 2008, 10:15 AM, said:

I'll get them from my mom as soon as she wakes up, the documents were sent anonymously to the house of almost every major name in usa judo in 2005

+1

This post has been edited by stacey: 20 June 2008 - 03:18 PM

[Rondadori]

For those of you who want to see the documents themselves write me at my personal account rondarousey@gmail.com and I will send them to you.

His threats of suing people for talking has worked in the past but I can't be sued for private correspondence.

[RoswellJudoClub]

GO RONDA!

(I feel like your cheerleader!)

[Mdrnsamurai]

Quote

I have no issues with the above post. Why he is still allowed to remain in USA Judo is a question I've been asking for a long time.

You guys are so off base talking about the co-founder of US Judo.

Quote

So lets see how many people get mad at me this time.

Actually quite proud, if you need to ask.

This is one of the big problems in US Judo, people are to afraid to kick someone in the @$$ and tell them where to go until it's too late. Well guess what? It's never too late.

Good Luck in Beijing! Make us Proud!

Train Hard, Stay Safe,
Good Luck

[stacey]

Rondadori, on Jun 20 2008, 10:29 AM, said:

For those of you who want to see the documents themselves write me at my personal account rondarousey@gmail.com and I will send them to you.

His threats of suing people for talking has worked in the past but I can't be sued for private correspondence.

um, truth is always a defense to defamation.

However, if he's threatened to sue before, he can still threaten. Defamation occurs when you publish something to another, i.e. communicate something to another. So, the former employer who calls up your new employer and says something about you having typhoid when in fact you don't have typhoid has published a falsity for the sake of defamation. It really doesn't have to be published front page of the New York Times.

Just a caution. Remember, truth is on your side, but that doesn't prevent him from being an a55 and trying to sue you.

[annmaria]

I believe the truth is a defense in court.

1. Affidavits regarding Fletcher were mailed to nearly every state governing body president, the offices of the national organizations and many others. I did not know who mailed it.

2. I personally called the person who had signed one letter firing Fletcher from his job. I asked him if the documents were authentic, e.g., did he really write this letter. Incidentally, he took me about 10 seconds to find this guy's phone number on the Internet. That's how hard it is to track down these people. He told me he did indeed write the letter. I asked why criminal charges were not pursued and he said that Fletcher had left the state and moved to Alaska. In fact, Fletcher did move to Alaska at that time.

3. I personally called one of the girls (now a woman) named as a victim by other victims. I told her that her name was mentioned in these affidavits. She said yes it did happen and followed up with a written statement. I forwarded this to two judo organizations that opened ethics investigations. Since I am not on either of those ethics committees, I do not know the status of those investigations. I know she was considering a civil suit and was on a couple of calls providing testimony. I keep records of that.

4. I have mentioned this to people in USJI many times. They say that they did an investigation. I was never called as a witness and, in fact when I received these affidavits years latter I was aghast that the organization had known about this. I called and demanded to know why they never took any action and offered to provide supporting evidence. I was told that since I was not physically in the room, the girls only told me about it, that it is only hearsay.One of the victims who I spoke with also said that she was never contacted by USJI to this day. We were on many teams together. Neither of us were hard to find if they wanted to do an investigation.


So, these are all facts for which I do have supporting documents. Some people say that it was a long time ago, so it is okay. The Catholic church doesn't take that stance any more and I don't think we should either.

[stacey]

annmaria, on Jun 20 2008, 10:45 AM, said:

So, these are all facts for which I do have supporting documents. Some people say that it was a long time ago, so it is okay. The Catholic church doesn't take that stance any more and I don't think we should either.

Agreed.

Further, the Catholic Church has allowed for the prosecution of its offending priests, and has defrocked others for who the Statute of Limitations has expired.

[Judoheidi]

Thank you AnnMaria and Ronda!! This stuff needs to be brought to the public and addressed! Perhaps, now that we have a new CEO (albeit one that many on this forum seem to want to fire), we can get a new investigation started....