Out of Bounds: NBC 5 Investigates Local Coaches Accused of Abusing Their Players

WARNING: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault that may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.

A new analysis by NBC 5 Investigates has found that dozens of Chicago-area coaches have been disciplined in sexual abuse or misconduct cases within the last decade.

According to that analysis, 135 Chicago-area coaches have been sanctioned, suspended, disciplined or convicted of sexual abuse or misconduct since 2010.

The search -- which is still ongoing -- of criminal cases, teacher dismissals and disciplinary records of sports organizations found a range of misbehavior that may or may not lead to termination, loss of a license, or entry on the state's sex offender registry.

More than two-thirds of coaches we've identified were accused of abusing student-athletes in their charge, who are almost always teenagers or children. Problematic coaches span a wide range of sports and schools, from elementary to high school to college.

Some have been repeat offenders, exposing holes in a system that lacks comprehensive tracking or oversight.

These cases often involve grooming, defined by RAINN as "manipulative behaviors that the abuser uses to gain access to a potential victim, coerce them to agree to the abuse, and reduce the risk of being caught." Experts NBC 5 spoke with said coaching presents a special opportunity for grooming.

Coaches can spend many hours with athletes outside of a school setting, and can more easily blur the lines of normal interest and attention into a student's life to cross into something that turns dangerous. Teachers also can have opportunities to enhance the lives of their students; but coaches, through the nature of their roles, have more unsupervised contact, especially on nights and weekends.

Former Legal Prep Charter Academy basketball coach Jamel Helaire-Jones is one local coach accused of abusing his players, one of whom came forward with her story of being sexually abused at 17-years-old.

"I didn’t really interact with him until my senior year," said the former player, who agreed to be identified as Jane.

She's filed a civil lawsuit against Helaire-Jones and Legal Prep, detailing her alleged abuse over several months in 2018.

Jane said in her suit that Helaire-Jones would show many of his players individual attention. He would work with specific players on their skills at practice, as many good coaches do, and would also check on his players via text.

"He would just ask me how’s my day going, how I’m doing, did I eat," said Jane. "Just normal, normal stuff like that...At first it was good, because I’m like 'Ok, he just wants to know how I’m doing because I’m one of his players, so maybe this is how he coaches. [He wants to] check up on his players.'"

In her lawsuit, Jane said Helaire-Jones would regularly give her and other players a ride home after practice. The suit, details one night when she said they were alone in the car when he took a detour.

"He pulled in an alley and then he parked and then he pulled out his privates," Jane said. "I looked at it and he looked at it and he was like, 'Do you want to suck it?' And I’m like, 'No.'"

In her lawsuit, Jane alleged other inappropriate conduct by her coach over the course of her senior year. Helaire-Jones, according to the lawsuit, tried to grab her breasts on two occasions; kissed her; asked her to perform oral sex; sent her several explicit text messages; and sexually assaulted her in the gymnasium.

Helaire-Jones' attorney declined to comment on the lawsuit. Legal Prep also declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

"He was a methodical groomer," said Yao Dinizulu, Jane's attorney.

Helaire-Jones also faces a lawsuit filed by another Legal Prep student, who said she was abused by the coach in 2018 as well. Dinizulu said text messages Helaire-Jones sent to Jane and the other student were eventually discovered by a parent, then administrators, then ultimately Chicago police.

According to the lawsuit, Helaire-Jones was terminated by Legal Prep on Nov. 30, 2018.

Cook County prosecutors charged Helaire-Jones with seven counts of criminal sexual assault in the two Legal Prep cases. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney declined to talk to NBC 5 Investigates about the criminal charges and the second lawsuit, as well.

Jane's lawsuit said the rides home, and repeated flattering comments, established a pattern of seemingly caring behavior that would ultimately turn predatory.

"It builds a certain additional layer of trust, because you [have] to remember: Mr. Jones was actually, not only was he a coach, but he was a dean," said Dinizulu. "There was a sense of authority, a sense of respect that was owed to him, by the nature of the title that was put on to him by Legal Prep."

For weeks, NBC 5 Investigates has been tracking cases of local coaches who have been credibly accused or convicted of sexual misconduct.

The process is not straightforward, and that is part of the problem. We have been searching through a variety of sources: local news stories; criminal cases; civil lawsuits; teacher-dismissal proceedings, teaching-license revocations by state boards of education, settlement agreements, and “banned” and “ineligible” lists published by the U.S. Center for SafeSport – an organization set up in 2018 to address the issue of problematic coaches – as well as lists published by the Olympic-sanctioned organizations for individual sports in the U.S.

In all, NBC5 Investigates has gathered records on nearly 250 coaches, and we continue to review the histories of scores of additional coaches – ranging from Little League and youth sports to public and private school coaches, all the way to coaches at the college and professional level.

Most are in the immediate Chicago area; others are in downstate Illinois or Indiana. Most were credibly accused or convicted of sexual abuse in the years since 2010; others were accused or convicted earlier.

Whether these coaches are terminated, placed on the state's sex offender registry or are legally punished depends on the specifics of each case. The offender registry, and schools implementing background checks, can help filter out coaches with questionable pasts.

But NBC 5 has discovered the process is piecemeal at best, with no single comprehensive system that monitors and disciplines questionable coaches. And, we've discovered there's no consistent way for athletes or their families to track down a potential coach's past.

Jane's lawsuit said there were major problems with how Helaire-Jones was hired by Legal Prep, accusing the school hiring Helaire-Jones before he went through the required background check.

"There was plenty, ample information for anyone who was curious enough about the safety of their students to at least do an investigation to find out more about that and, in this case, not hire him,” said Dinizulu.

More about Helaire-Jones' past and what transpired at Legal Prep will be examined in part two of Out of Bounds, airing on Tuesday night.