Trigger warning: This article includes details of the alleged sexual abuse of a minor and potentially involves more than one victim. Be aware that some of the information outlined in this article may be distressing to the reader.
A hockey player within the Jr. Sharks organization has filed suit against Sharks Ice, LLC, Sharks Sports & Entertainment, LLC (SSE) and former Jr. Sharks coach Kevin Whitmer. In November, Whitmer was arrested in Denver by San Jose police and charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a minor.
The lawsuit was filed by the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard on behalf of “John Doe,” a minor. It accuses Whitmer of grooming and then molesting Doe starting in 2021 when Doe was 12 years old. It also names SSE and Sharks Ice as defendants and accuses them of failing to take action even though supervisors were notified “several times” about Whitmer breaking locker room rules.
California law states that any “reasonable suspicion of sexual assault upon a child” must be reported to law enforcement or child protective services. Doe’s lawyers say that SSE is responsible since it employed Whitmer as an AAA Head Coach, Private Skills Instructor and Player Development coach with the Jr. Sharks organization from Aug. 2017 through May 2023.
One of the biggest issues is that Whitmer was allegedly allowed to be alone in locker rooms with a single player. The Jr. Sharks are a USA hockey program and are required to follow the USA Hockey SafeSport Program Handbook established in 2017.
USA Hockey requires that at least one “responsible screened adult” is present at all times and that there be at least two monitors inside the locker room, both of which have been screened. It also requires that individual meetings between a minor and a coach or other adult in a locker room have a second responsible adult present. The handbook puts the onus on programs like the Jr. Sharks to ensure that teams have locker room monitors in place at all times.
The claim states that Sharks Ice and SSE neglected to take the proper steps to ensure the safety of its players.
“SHARKS ICE and SSE enabled a toxic culture wherein coaches could freely use the locker rooms to inappropriately isolate their minor male hockey players without the presence of locker room monitors, and could freely engage in one-on-one electronic communication with these players without supervision,” reads the 12-page brief.
According to the USA Hockey SafeSport Program Handbook, ALL communications between a minor player and a coach “must also copy or include the player’s parents.”
Whitmer is accused of engaging in “highly inappropriate and sexual behavior with his male, minor hockey players,” including touching their chests and abdomens. He is also accused of asking players to sit on his lap.
The complaint says that at least one parent of a Jr. Sharks player reportedly witnessed two young kids sitting on Whitmer’s lap and told a tournament coordinator. Another parent reportedly told management that Whitmer engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior in front of players, such as making out with his girlfriend. One parent reportedly saw Whitmer alone with kids in a locker room at Sharks Ice and confronted him directly.
The claim says that one of the locker room supervisors raised concerns to “management and/or human resources” about Whitmer breaking Sharks Ice locker room rules, such as taking locker room keys on “nearly a weekly basis without her knowledge and/or authorization.” She allegedly raised her concerns to management “five to ten times during the 2018-2023 period.”
Whitmer asked Jr. Sharks players to “send him photographs of their abs under the guise of evaluating their fitness,” according to the court filing.
In 2021, Doe says he started participating in group lessons with Whitmer at Sharks Ice. Whitmer is accused of “overtly grooming” the player by giving him free gifts and spending time in Sharks Ice locker rooms behind closed doors. After on-ice lessons, Whitmer is accused of taking the player into a locker room, having him sit on his lab, and massaging his chest and abdomen under the guise of medically evaluating him. Electronically, the player was asked to send images of his chest and abdomen to Whitmer as well as “explicit photographs of him engaging in sexual acts.”
Whitmer left the Jr. Sharks program in May 2023 and began coaching youth hockey in Colorado. The court filing claims that in August 2023, two Jr. Sharks parents filed formal complaints against Whitmer with the U.S. Center for SafeSport and/or USA Hockey. A police report was filed with the San Jose Police Department on Oct. 31, 2023.
Sharks Ice and SSE are named defendants in the case for failing to follow proper procedures to protect Jr. Sharks players, according to the complaint.
They are also accused of not “adequately training and educating its coaches and staff on its child abuse prevention policies, how to detect and deter predatory behaviors between coaches and players, and mandated reporter obligations; terminating or suspending the membership/employment of coaches that have engaged in and/or permitted the sexual abuse of a minor athlete; implementing reasonable safeguards to avoids acts of childhood sexual assault; and/or otherwise conducting themselves with due care so as to avoid injuring Plaintiff.”
Sharks Sports & Entertainment LLC spokesperson Jim Sparaco told the San Jose Mercury News, “At this time, pending litigation, the organization will have no further comment.”
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