Ban of Mission Viejo weightlifter Colin Burns for non-consensual sexual contact during Team USA trip was overturned

The U.S. Center for SafeSport banned U.S. and Pan American champion weightlifter Colin Burns for 10 years last year for sexually assaulting a female weightlifter at pre-Olympic test event in Brazil, only to have the ban lifted by an arbitration panel last July, the Southern California News Group has learned.

After an 11-month investigation, SafeSport ruled in February 2018 that Burns had “non-consensual sexual acts” in April 2016 with Jennyfer Roberts, a rising star in U.S. weightlifting, in her Rio de Janeiro hotel room in the middle of the night while she was incapacitated by alcohol and sleep.

Burns was also suspended for an additional two years for lying repeatedly to SafeSport investigators.

But an arbitration panel made up of three former federal judges overturned SafeSport’s sexual assault ruling in July, saying the center had not proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Burns had non-consensual sexual contact with Roberts. The arbitration did uphold the SafeSport ruling that  Burns lied to investigators, but reduced his suspension from two years to 18 months.

Burns can resume competing and coaching at U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Weightlifting sanctioned events on Aug. 13.

Hundreds of pages of confidential SafeSport and USA Weightlifting documents, emails, memos and texts obtained by SCNG over the past six months, in addition to interviews, detail how Burns, a former Mission Viejo resident, was allowed to continue to represent the U.S. at major international competitions while under investigation for sexually assaulting a Team USA teammate. Burns was also allowed to compete and coach at events at where Roberts was also competing.

“I just kept being that sad person and I had a very difficult time. Even training just became even that much more draining and depressing to me because now I’m going to keep training so the next competition I go to I’ll see him, too,” Roberts, who agreed to be named by SCNG, said in an interview recalling the months after the Rio incident. “I couldn’t rationalize that in my head. Why would I devote all this time in the meet where I’m going to have to go see this guy?”

The documents and interviews also reveal that Roberts was questioned about her sexual history by an arbitration panel member during an appeal hearing, and that the panel in overturning the SafeSport ruling relied heavily on the testimony of a controversial University of Texas psychologist who, without ever speaking with Roberts, determined Roberts was in an alcohol-induced blackout at the time of the incident that would not have prevented her from consenting to have sex with Burns. SafeSport did not offer a rebuttal witness to Kim Fromme, the psychologist, according to SafeSport documents.

The documents also show how it often took SafeSport officials days, sometimes weeks, to respond to Roberts questions and concerns if they responded at all.

Burns declined to be interviewed when contacted by SCNG.

“I have been advised that the SafeSport rules are such that cases are entirely confidential, and anyone involved in a case generally cannot speak without violating those rules,” Burns said in an email. “I therefore cannot comment on any SafeSport matter. I also note that I reserve any rights to protect my reputation regarding any false statements published about me.”

An attorney for Burns provided SCNG a similar statement on Monday.

SafeSport officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The Burns case revelations come weeks after the USOC-created and financed U.S. Center for SafeSport suffered a pair of high profile setbacks.

Two-time Olympic taekwondo champion Steven Lopez had his lifetime ban lifted in December. Lopez was banned by SafeSport for sexually abusing a 14-year-old female athlete in 2000. The decision to lift the ban was made by Jeff Kaplan, who was also a member of the arbitration panel that reversed Burns’ ban.

An arbitration panel also recently lifted a lifetime ban for longtime U.S. national team coach Jean Lopez, Steven’s brother. SafeSport banned Jean Lopez in April for a series of alleged sexual assaults on Team USA athletes, some as young as 16, while they represented their country at the Olympic Games, World Cup events and other major international competitions.

SafeSport said its April ruling to ban Jean Lopez was based on “a decades long pattern of sexual misconduct by an older administrator/coach abusing his power to groom, manipulate and, ultimately, sexually abuse younger female athletes.”

The Lopez reversals further fueled criticism of the center that has been under fire from Congress, former Olympians and current athletes, and athlete rights advocates even before it opened in March 2017. Then-USOC chairman Larry Probst, amid mounting pressure from Capitol Hill, acknowledged last April that SafeSport was “under-resourced.”

The Lopez decision “should remove any doubt that SafeSport is a complete and utter sham,” said Robert Allard, a Bay Area attorney who represents some of the survivors of the Lopez brother’s alleged sexual abuse.

The Burns-Roberts incident took place while they were in Brazil to compete in a pre-Olympic test event. After a night of drinking by Team USA members at a steakhouse near Rio’s Copacabana Beach and later with athletes from other countries at the U.S. squad’s hotel, Roberts returned to her room and “passed out asleep.” Roberts said she had five or six caipirinhas, a Brazilian rum-like liquor drink, at dinner and later drank beers at the hotel.

Roberts said she woke up between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. to find Burns having sex with her. Burns, after denying being in Roberts’ room in three interviews with SafeSport investigators, eventually said Roberts invited him back to her room after he escorted another female U.S. weightlifter to her room. The other lifter had been sleeping in Roberts’ room and had become sick from drinking earlier that night. Burns said he knocked on Roberts’ door to check on the women.

Roberts reported the assault in a March 5, 2017 email to USA Weightlifting assistant executive director Lance Williams. “I had never met him prior to this trip, and I haven’t spoken with him since.”

SafeSport’s “Confidential Investigator’s Report and Findings” concluded that Roberts was “incapacitated” and did not consent when Burns began having sexual intercourse with her.

Kathleen Smith, SafeSport’s senior investigator, found  “no evidence in the record that (Roberts) consented to the subsequent intercourse that occurred.” Smith also stated there was no “evidence demonstrating that (Roberts) communicated that she wanted to engage in each of the sexual acts.”

SafeSport also found that Burns “ensured” that Roberts’ hotel room door would be open so he could enter the room “without any express or implied invitation.”

The arbitration panel, however, in its decision said Fromme’s testimony “undercut” SafeSport’s finding that Roberts “was incapable — by her sleep and intoxication — of consenting.”

“An expert witness who never talked to me,” Roberts said.

Fromme used an algorithm based on anecdotal information to determine that Roberts had not consumed enough alcohol that night to reach the 0.30 blood alcohol content Fromme said is needed to be considered incapacitated.