Fri, January 24, 2025
SafeSport faces crisis and strengthens vetting process after former investigator charged with rape and sex trafficking
The U.S. Center for SafeSport will add a morals clause to its code of conduct following the arrest of Jason Krasley—who previously worked as an investigator for SafeSport after serving as a police officer in Pennsylvania’s vice squad. Krasley was arrested in November for allegedly stealing drug money collected during a bust, and again earlier this month on charges of rape and sex trafficking. In response to this, SafeSport's CEO, Ju'Riese Colon, will personally begin interviewing job candidates.
Following this revelation, SafeSport held a virtual forum called “The State of SafeSport,” where Colon provided updates and took questions from athletes and stakeholders. Colon expressed that SafeSport was reevaluating its screening and hiring process. Colon said that SafeSport fired Krasley immediately after learning about his November arrest for allegedly stealing $5,500 that was collected during a drug bust whilst he was a cop in 2019.
Colon voiced: “I'm still very angry about this. I'm disappointed and sad. This was certainly unprecedented and certainly something we'll strive to never have happen again, because it was a dark week for the center. It certainly impacts the trust we're striving to build.”
Colon also stated that SafeSport did already have a “robust” background check which included social media screenings, references and multiple interviews, but is still evaluating its screening and hiring practices in the wake of this revelation.
She said: “We've reached out to a number of other background check companies, screeners and reference checkers to see if there's something else we can do with our staff.”
The centre opened in 2017 to investigate sex abuse cases involving Olympic sports after scandals involving Larry Nassar and others framed the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and its sports organisations as not up to the task of properly handling those cases.
SafeSport has staff across 32 states, all with different employment laws, making the situation even more complex. Late last year, SafeSport had 36 investigators on its investigations team. The centre has conceded its trouble with staffing shortages, receiving around 155 new reports a week.
Despite this, Colon expressed that: “the biggest challenge right now, and certainly the elephant in the room, is the arrest” of Krasley.
She continued: “This was devastating news for us, for the movement, for athletes, for survivors. It's just terrible.”
SafeSport has now employed a third-party firm to audit cases Krasley was involved in to check if they might need to be reopened. However, Colon also expressed that SafeSport had no indication Krasley had been involved in wrongdoing whilst being an investigator for the centre for roughly two years.
However, it was also reported that SafeSport later found that Krasley had stopped communicating with his case contacts before resolving investigations.
Krasley’s attorney says he denies all the allegations against him.
In late 2024, the centre became the focus of a new bill introduced in the U.S. Congress aimed at increasing its funding to help SafeSport manage its growing workload. The Safer Sports for Athletes Act proposes to quadruple the centre’s annual grant to $10 million (€9.4 million) from the 2025 fiscal year through 2030. The bill also advocates for investigations to be completed within 180 days of a report being filed.
