{"id":12857,"date":"2018-04-26T09:40:40","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T17:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=12857"},"modified":"2024-05-29T17:03:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T01:03:23","slug":"irish-maureen-osullivan-files-for-u-s-center-for-safesport-investigation-of-george-gibney-and-seeks-support-of-congresswoman-diana-degette-of-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=12857","title":{"rendered":"Irish Politician Maureen O\u2019Sullivan Files For U.S. Center For SafeSport Investigation of George Gibney and Seeks Support of Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<html><body><b><\/b><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by Irvin Muchnick<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan, the Irish legislator who has spearheaded the campaign for the extradition and trial of George Gibney, the most notorious at-large sex criminal in global sports, today told Concussion Inc. she has taken two additional steps previously mentioned in our coverage of the American side of the campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first step is that O&#8217;Sullivan has written to Shellie Pfohl, head of the new U.S. Center for SafeSport, formally requesting an investigation of George Gibney. The center had told this reporter that it would undertake, at minimum, a preliminary investigation on the basis of third-party reports. Lawyers who work in the abuse field had advised that O&#8217;Sullivan was best situated to initiate the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In her letter request to Pfohl, O&#8217;Sullivan cited two known incidents on American soil involving Gibney, the former Irish Olympic swimming head coach who fled to this country after being charged with 27 counts of indecent carnal knowledge of youth athletes in his charge. The first incident was his alleged rape and impregnation of a 17-year-old Irish swimmer during a training trip in Tampa, Florida, in 1991, when he still resided in Ireland.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second incident is a somewhat less clearly understood act of alleged sexual misconduct in 1995, when Gibney was a coach for the USA Swimming member team North Jeffco in Arvada, Colorado, and presumably was himself a USA Swimming member.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the course of an Arvada police investigation of that incident, which might have been spurred at least in part by a complaint about the incident itself as well as information about his Irish past, Gibney was separated from the North Jeffco club and, apparently, did not coach again. However, he remains a resident alien in the U.S. to this day, even though his 2010 application for citizenship appears to have been rejected on the grounds that he lied on it about past criminal charges in Ireland.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Concussion Inc. has sought unsuccessfully for access to the 1995 Arvada police report from the department and the city manager. On April 12, a prominent First Amendment attorney in San Francisco, Karl Olson of Cannata O&#8217;Toole Fickes Almazan, sent on our behalf a request for reconsideration of their denial to Mayor Marc Williams. Olson argued that the city has the discretion to release the material under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act, and urged it to do so in light of the passage of time, the fact that there was no criminal complaint or charge against Gibney and the matter is closed, and the narrative is of great public interest in the current Irish-American campaign on behalf of Gibney&#8217;s numerous victims. Arvada has acknowledged receiving the Olson letter and promised a response.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Irish legislator O&#8217;Sullivan&#8217;s other new move, she has confirmed that she also wrote on April 12 for the assistance of Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado&#8217;s First District. DeGette, the Democrats&#8217; chief deputy whip, is ranking minority member of the subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating the handling of the abuse issue by USA Swimming and other U.S. Olympic Committee national sport governing bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">O&#8217;Sullivan had appealed previously to Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, chief sponsor of the Safe Sport Act of 2018, and Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California, a leading voice of the &#8220;#MeToo movement&#8221; and the Democrats&#8217; unofficial House of Representatives watchdog on the youth sports abuse problem. Speier referred the Gibney matter to the House Judiciary Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">O&#8217;Sullivan&#8217;s letter to DeGette states in part: &#8220;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I know there is tremendous work going on in the U.S. in relation to uncovering the abuse of young people by their sports&#8217; coaches and it is in that light that I am contacting you, hoping that this case of George Gibney be examined, especially due to your work with the House Energy and Commerce Committee investigating USA swimming.&#8221; Gibney&#8217;s victims, O&#8217;Sullivan added, &#8220;have been waiting a very long time.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>PREVIOUSLY:<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><a title=\"Permanent Link to GEORGE GIBNEY FOIA SUIT SETTLES AS GOVERNMENT ADMITS DECISION NOT TO DEPORT IRISH OLYMPIC SWIM COACH AFTER DENYING U.S. CITIZENSHIP - PLUS OTHER NEW INFO\" href=\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=12364\" rel=\"bookmark\" data-slimstat=\"5\">GEORGE GIBNEY FOIA SUIT SETTLES AS GOVERNMENT ADMITS DECISION NOT TO DEPORT IRISH OLYMPIC SWIM COACH AFTER DENYING U.S. CITIZENSHIP &#8211; PLUS OTHER NEW INFO<\/a><\/h2>\n<div class=\"pub\">Published December 12th, 2017<\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\">\n<h2><a title=\"Permanent Link to Irish Legislator Maureen O'Sullivan Guest Column: 'My Concern Is For Victims of Abuse Who Have Never Had Justice'\" href=\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=12362\" rel=\"bookmark\" data-slimstat=\"5\">Irish Legislator Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan Guest Column: &#8216;My Concern Is For Victims of Abuse Who Have Never Had Justice&#8217;<\/a><\/h2>\n<div class=\"pub\">Published December 13th, 2017<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\">\n<h2><a title=\"Permanent Link to Full Exchange Today at the Irish Parliament Regarding George Gibney, Between the Deputy Prime Minister and Legislator Maureen O'Sullivan\" href=\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=12378\" rel=\"bookmark\" data-slimstat=\"5\">Full Exchange Today at the Irish Parliament Regarding George Gibney, Between the Deputy Prime Minister and Legislator Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan<\/a><\/h2>\n<div class=\"pub\">Published December 14th, 2017<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\">\n<h2><a title=\"Permanent Link to After George Gibney FOIA Win, Justice in the Many Criminal Cases of the Rapist Irish Olympic Swim Coach Now Rests Primarily With Action by the Americans\" href=\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=12392\" rel=\"bookmark\" data-slimstat=\"5\">After George Gibney FOIA Win, Justice in the Many Criminal Cases of the Rapist Irish Olympic Swim Coach Now Rests Primarily With Action by the Americans<\/a><\/h2>\n<div class=\"pub\">Published December 17th, 2017<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\">\n<h2><a title=\"Permanent Link to New George Gibney Papers: U.S. Government Documents Curious Decision Not to Remove Former Irish Olympic Swim Coach Despite Numerous Sexual Abuse Allegations\" href=\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=12408\" rel=\"bookmark\" data-slimstat=\"5\">New George Gibney Papers: U.S. Government Documents Curious Decision Not to Remove Former Irish Olympic Swim Coach Despite Numerous Sexual Abuse Allegations<\/a><\/h2>\n<div class=\"pub\">Published December 20th, 2017<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"pub\"><i>Chronological links to our series, which began January 27, 2015, under the headline &#8220;Why Is George Gibney &#8211; No. 1 At-Large Pedophile in Global Sports &#8211; Living in Florida? And Who Sponsored His Green Card?&#8221;:<\/i><i><a href=\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=10942\" data-slimstat=\"5\">https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=10942<\/a><\/i><\/div>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Irvin Muchnick &nbsp; Maureen O&#8217;Sullivan, the Irish legislator who has spearheaded the campaign for the extradition and trial of George Gibney, the most notorious at-large<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Irish Politician Maureen O\u2019Sullivan Files For U.S. Center For SafeSport Investigation of George Gibney and Seeks Support of Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado - Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/concussioninc.net\/?p=12857\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irish Politician Maureen O\u2019Sullivan Files For U.S. Center For SafeSport Investigation of George Gibney and Seeks Support of Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado - Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Irvin Muchnick &nbsp; 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