WILLIAMSPORT – A federal lawsuit which alleged that a gymnastics camp counselor sexually abused the plaintiffs’ child and that the facility staff threatened the child and failed to report the abuse as required by law, has been settled for $8 million.
In December 2021, plaintiffs Kelly and Julio Chinea first sued Nathaniel Singer, seven entities bearing the Camp Woodward name and Camp Director Brittany Shulman in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas. The case was later removed to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
“The Chineas’ complaint, which raised various state-law claims, alleged that Singer, a former Camp Woodward gymnastics camp counselor, sexually abused their child, S.C., in the summers of 2018 and 2019; that the Camp had employed Singer despite previous reports of inappropriate sexual conduct; and that Camp staff challenged and threatened their child after she reported Singer’s inappropriate conduct and later failed to report the abuse as required under Pennsylvania law,” U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Judge Matthew W. Brann previously said.
Two summers earlier, in 2017, the heads of the gymnastics program were told that Singer had snuck a female camper out of her bunk and engaged in intimate contact with her. Despite this incident, Singer was rehired as a coach at the camp – but was finally terminated in 2020, when he was placed on a no contact list by U.S.A. Gymnastics.
The Chineas’ suit said that Camp Woodward had notice that Singer was a danger to female campers, but repeatedly rehired him. One week before Singer sexually assaulted S.C., another coach allegedly warned Shulman, that Singer was a “child predator.”
After being assaulted in 2019, S.C. attempted to go to Camp Woodward management for help and told one of her coaches that Singer was making her uncomfortable. The suit said S.C. was brought to a meeting with Shulman, who accused S.C. of spreading rumors.
Singer was convicted of four counts of indecent assault following a jury trial in January 2023.
“This settlement holds Camp Woodward responsible for failing to protect the children under its care. It is unacceptable that Camp Woodward repeatedly rehired a predator as a coach at its camp, and then attempted to silence a child when she tried to speak up about what he did to her. It is unconscionable that this occurred in the sport of gymnastics, where so many victims of child sexual abuse have been ignored. This significant settlement shows that the civil justice system is necessary and effective at holding institutions accountable that fail to protect the children under their care,” David Inscho and Lorraine Donnelly, attorneys at Kline & Specter who represented the Chineas and S.C., said.
This is not the only legal matter pending against Camp Woodward, Shulman and Singer. Another female gymnast identified in court filings as S.S. also has a pending case in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania sounding in claims of sexual assault by Singer at Camp Woodward.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 4:22-cv-00134
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com