If not for AP national sports writer Eddie Pells, the world may never have learned that a center dedicated to protecting athletes from sexual abuse had hired an investigator who would later be arrested for a series of crimes, including rape. Most of the alleged crimes occurred before the investigator joined the center, which fired him upon learning of his past. Now, the chair of a powerful Senate committee has opened an inquiry into the matter.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport’s mission is to protect athletes from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and misconduct. Pells has reported on the center for years, regularly receiving emails from individuals who have struggled with cases brought to its attention.
One such email led Pells to a rugby player whose case had stalled after the investigator handling it was suddenly no longer employed by the center. Pells discovered that the former investigator was a former police officer in Allentown, Pennsylvania, who had been arrested for allegedly stealing money seized in a drug bust. The center fired him after learning of the arrest, but the fact that he was hired in the first place raised serious questions about its vetting process.
After his firing, the former officer was arrested again in January and charged with felony rape for crimes allegedly committed while he was on the force between 2011 and 2015. Throughout the investigation, Pells secured exclusive stories uncovering internal emails and unpublicized meetings in which SafeSport officials acknowledged a crisis and began strengthening their hiring protocols.
Pells’ reporting caught the attention of Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office, which contacted him to say the senator was demanding answers and would be sending a letter to the center. That letter revealed yet another arrest—this time for allegedly causing $2,500 in damage to a car—while the investigator was working at SafeSport. The revelation led to another exclusive AP story, this time on Grassley’s inquiry.
Judges were impressed not only by the quality and persistence of Pells’ reporting but also by how quickly it prompted the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee to act.
For shining a light on a group meant to protect athletes—a light so searing that it led Congress to take action—Pells earns this week’s Best of AP — Second Winner.
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