This post has been updated.
When Krysta Corona found out her cousin was teaching at Champion Gymnastics and Cheer in Santee, she knew she had to tell somebody.
When Corona was four or five years old, she says, her cousin, Derek May — who was 17 or 18 at the time — had her perform oral sex on him multiple times. Now, Corona was in her thirties and horrified to learn May was teaching young girls and boys gymnastics.
May, when reached by phone, declined to comment.
Corona decided to go to La Mesa police. The police told her they would look into her claim. In the months that followed, officers interviewed Corona’s mother, sister and other family members, she said.
Corona also set up a meeting with one of the gym’s owners, JJ Ross.
She also told him what happened. She offered to show him a Facebook message — one she had also shown the police — which she considered an admission by May of the sexual abuse.
Ross wouldn’t even look at the message.
She said he didn’t seem to care and wasn’t “shocked in the least bit.”
Ross, in a series of emails, wrote that he did in fact understand Corona’s claims to be serious — he just didn’t reasonably suspect them to be true.
Corona “told us that she had reported the same incident [to police] days prior to meeting with us. She also stated that the people she reported it to told her that probably nothing would happen as a result of this report,” Ross wrote.
Corona denies telling Ross that police told her nothing would happen as a result of her report.
Ross is a gymnastics coach himself and — like many people who work with children — a mandated reporter. Coaches like him are bound by law to report child abuse to police, as well their governing sports’ organizations.
One child welfare lawyer, as well as officials for San Diego County and the US Center for SafeSport said that not reporting in a situation like that violates the spirit — if not the letter — of mandated reporter laws. SafeSport can discipline coaches with less evidence than a criminal prosecution might require. Ross’s lack of reporting the allegation to SafeSport meant the organization didn’t have a chance to get involved.
Ross, however, did not report Corona’s story to police or any governing sports bodies.
Several parents we spoke to who support Champion said they backed Ross’s decision not to report.
May went on coaching at Champion for roughly six months — until La Mesa police made their move. La Mesa cops detained May from May 7 until May 9 for committing lewd acts with a minor. May was later released without charges. The District Attorney’s office is still reviewing evidence in the case to decide whether or not it can bring charges, according to a spokesman.
Corona said May’s detention was related to her complaint. La Mesa police did not return a call for comment.
A mandated reporter is required to report when they “know” or “reasonably suspect” abuse of a child has occurred, according to state laws.
Generally, “a disclosure of abuse [from a survivor] would in my opinion rise to the level of reasonable suspicion,” said Alfredo Guardado, who oversees San Diego County’s office of child safety, which investigates child abuse allegations.
Jessica Heldman, an attorney specializing in child welfare, said that because Corona was an adult when she made her report it’s unclear exactly how the law might apply to it. She said in her opinion Corona’s story should have triggered a report.
“When a mandated reporter reasonably suspects that their employee has abused a child and that employee continues to work with children, I would argue that they have a responsibility to report that abuse and let the child protection agency handle the situation,” she wrote in an email.
Had Ross looked at Corona’s alleged proof, he would have seen a screenshot of a Facebook message from 2009. Corona was 23 at the time and she confronted May about the alleged abuse.
May responded: “I am sorry you still feel this way. I am not going to go into any details, but in the Bible it says that all I have to do is lay this at his feet, ask for forgiveness and I will be right with God… I do not have these urges and have not had them for years… Again, I do apologize and hope that you find peace through Jesus.”
Ross, on the one hand, said it was not his responsibility to look at the evidence. On the other, he said he evaluated Corona’s story enough to decide he didn’t reasonably suspect it to be true.
“Regarding being a mandated reporter, I am keenly aware of and have always followed the policies and procedures of our governing body,” Ross wrote.
“SafeSport policy says that ‘no one should investigate or attempt to evaluate the credibility or validity of such reports,’ he wrote. “We told [Corona] that the law enforcement people she talked to were the correct professionals to give this information to.”
Guardado said it’s true that he tells mandated reporters they don’t need to do their own investigations. His department has investigators specially trained for the task. But he said it is important to report.
“They don’t have to be certain for it to meet the standard of reasonable suspicion,” said Guardado. “The question is, from an objective standard, would a reasonable person entertain [the given evidence] as suspicion for abuse and neglect.”
Heldman, the child welfare lawyer, also called the rejection of Corona’s alleged evidence a failure.
“That is a failure of one’s duty. It doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “They don’t have to investigate, but when you are trying to figure out whether there is reasonable suspicion, it’s not just using your gut. It’s what do you know.”
Two governing bodies, USA Gymnastics and the US Center for SafeSport, oversee youth gymnastics.
USAG’s guidelines on reporting are clear.
“Any adult under USA Gymnastics’ jurisdiction must report child abuse immediately,” the guidelines read. “This requirement begins when an adult… is informed of an allegation of child abuse.”
SafeSport is congressionally mandated to investigate allegations of abuse in youth olympic sports. SafeSport guidelines rely on the same language as California’s penal code. They say a mandated reporter must either “know” or “reasonably suspect” abuse to have occurred for the reporting requirement to trigger.
Hilary Nemchik, a SafeSport spokeswoman, put a finer point on it.
“The Center makes clear in its code that adult participants within our jurisdiction are required to report allegations involving child abuse, including child sexual abuse, to law enforcement and the U.S. Center for SafeSport,” she wrote in an email.
When Corona tried to report her abuse to Ross, she says he was cavalier.
She recalls him saying: “‘There’s like 400 people around at all times, so it’s not like he can do anything.’”
(Ross did not deny saying this, however, he said he was not at all cavalier.)
In response to Ross saying no one can do anything inappropriate with a lot of people around, Corona said, “One, that’s not true and two, that’s disgusting.”
A previous coach at Champion was arrested in 2016 and later found guilty of having a relationship with a 15-year-old gymnast.
May’s detention has kicked off an online firestorm in Facebook groups between parents who believe Ross did the right thing and others who think the gym has allowed inappropriate behavior to go unchecked.
One parent we spoke to wished to remain anonymous because of the intensity of the controversy and fear of backlash from angry parents.
“[Corona’s] story sounds awful and horrific. And I wouldn’t want that on anyone — ever,” she said. “I don’t say this lightly to be against her: The reality is people do make false allegations.”
Regardless of May’s innocence or guilt, the parent said she felt comfortable with her children at Champion, because it is an open place where people can always see what’s happening.
She said, regardless of Ross’s mandated reporting duties, Ross acted correctly.
“I think he did the right thing in saying, ‘Take it to the police. Make a report,’” she said. “For him he has to protect both sides — employees and gymnasts.”
Correction: La Mesa police previously told Voice that May was arrested on May 7. They later clarified that because the District Attorney’s office did not press charges at that time, May was detained.
This is me. I am one of a handful (that I am related to) of his victims. I hope that this article brings awareness and encourages other victims to come forward 🙏 Pedophilia cannot be cured, only refrained from acting upon and working with children in a very hands on sport is NOT holding yourself accountable or resisting “urges”. I understand these gym moms really want to keep their kids in the gym and get a scholarship (as one has personally written me and proclaimed) but keeping kids safe is MY priority.
If you have been a victim of Derek May, please feel free to reach out to me or file a police report to help get him away from children. Thank you.
How dare you say we would risk our child for scholarships! That is unbelievable!
Did she actually say she would risk her child being molested for a scholarship?….or is that just your interpretation? Please be clear.
The gym owner was obviously required to make reports to SafeSport and USA Gymnastics. What I cannot discern from the article is whether – even now – the victim has made such reports herself, directly. Which she can do.
Yes, I made a report to both USA Gymnastics and Safesport. They are currently doing their own investigation and he is temporarily suspended, for now.
This is defamation and misleading articleof a coach and a gym in my opinion. The article is totally one sided and does not reflect the views of MOST of the parents and gymnasts who highly respect JJ as an owner of the most transparent gym I have ever witnessed. Also, Coach Derek who is held in high regards of his character by MOST parents and gymnast. His dedication to his students, parents and to the sport of gymnastics is very professional. I witness it almost every practice, 4 days a week, 4 hours at a time, not including private lessons. It’s a total attempted smear campaign against the gym, the owner and Coach Derek by a behind the scenes disgruntled Parent who is relentless in her tactics. (Yes, we know who you are) you secretly post picture of other people’s children without permission on the internet and have it out for our gym. This is a total smear campaign in my opinion and there are MANY OTHERS who are willing to step up and say what they have witnessed. Our eye witness story were not told here. In my Opinion this is a witch hunt.
Sorry but the views of the parents and gymnasts don’t matter. What matters is the law, they must report.
I’m sorry.. parents and gymnast opinions don’t matter? Our opinions are not the law but we should be heard too. What happened to free speech on a news article. Isn’t that what the comment section is for?
Oh, by the way Larry , you forgot to mention the first comment on here wrote an opinion who is not a parent or gymnast is also not the law. I hope this isn’t a sign of being biased in your job?
BINGO
I’m very confused by the “firestorm” and “intensity of controversy” referred to in the article. I would like to ask the question to the reporter who was at Champion to take a look at our gym facility, or rather what many of us call our second home, could you let me know where all of the controversy was? Anyone who steps foot on Champion gyms property will be met with welcoming smiles, heartfelt hellos, and welcome to the families. I fail to see parents who are at odds with each other over what was believed to be the correct way to handle a very tough situation. JJ Ross and all the coaches at Champion Gymnastics have always put the health and safety of our children first. The welcoming atmosphere isn’t just for show guys…that’s our family. That’s MY FAMILY. The simplest response is this…you want to know what kind of gym Champion is, go ahead and come over and take a look.