SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Diocese of Fort Wayne South Bend, along with Saint Joseph High School and other defendants, is pushing to have the names of three alleged anonymous sex crime victims publicly named. According to court documents obtained by REAL News Michiana, the potential act of intimidation to shame and prevent other victims from coming forward was submitted to the court on Tuesday of this week.
“Come now Defendants Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Inc. (“Diocese”), Saint Joseph
High School (“School”), John Kennedy and Debra Brown (collectively “Diocese Defendants”), by counsel, and submit this Response Brief in Opposition to the Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed Anonymously as Jane Does. For the reasons stated herein, the Diocese Defendants respectfully submit that the Plaintiffs have failed to show adequate cause to qualify for the extraordinary outcome of being allowed to proceed in this litigation anonymously and, therefore, the Plaintiff’s Motion to Proceed Anonymously as Jane Does (“Plaintiffs’ Motion”) should be denied as a matter of law.” The court document reads.
In October, RNM broke the story about three former students filing a lawsuit against the Diocese and Saint Joseph High School, claiming the defendants covered up alleged sex crimes committed by then volleyball coach, 32-year-old Justin Cochran.
Among other things, the 40 page lawsuit claims Cochran sent pictures of his genitalia to multiple high school girls, described the size of his penis and talked about “sexual escapades” to the students. There are also alleged instances of actual sexual contact with one 16-year-old volleyball player.
According to the lawsuit, Cochran was an assistant varsity coach prior to the 2018-2019 school year, when he was promoted to the head coach position.
You can read the 9 page motion to identify the victims below.
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