Coach joked about sexual acts with young fencers, abused 13-year-old, lawsuit says
A once-prominent fencing coach would crack jokes about criminal sexual acts with young fencers at his USA Fencing-approved training school in Tennessee — and began sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl there, according to a federal lawsuit.
Another coach said if Robert Piraino “was serious about some of the things he said, he should spend the rest of his life in prison,” a complaint states.
The teen and her family are now suing Piraino — who “became the powerful person in the Tennessee fencing community” — his training facility, Music City Fencing Club in Nashville, and USA Fencing after he allegedly abused the fencer for two years, the lawsuit filed in late July shows.
Piraino, 38, currently faces criminal charges in Nashville in connection with his sexual abuse of the teenage fencer after police arrested him in August 2021, the complaint notes.
Meanwhile, USA Fencing is accused of failing to prevent Piraino’s sexual abuse and grooming of the girl, who he would berate and physically punish at fencing practice if she refused to send explicit photos and videos of herself, according to the complaint.
“Even with the awareness that coaches have and the training that they have…it seems like every month we have another situation of where a coach gets arrested for sexual assault,” USA Fencing Board Chair David Arias said during a Q&A session in Oct. 2021, “... and I have that same sense of ‘We have to do something.’”
Piraino is also accused of distributing naked photos of the girl online and sending them to a former fencing coach and a member of USA Fencing.
“Like many organizations with substantial youth membership, USA Fencing has struggled to prevent sexual assault, exploitation, and misconduct from occurring within the sport,” the complaint states, referencing similar scandals in USA Gymnastics, USA Taekwondo and other organizations.
A spokesman for USA Fencing, Bryan Wendell, told McClatchy News that while the organization cannot comment on the “specifics of an ongoing litigation,” he said Piraino has been banned by USA Fencing since Sept. 23, 2021.
McClatchy News was unable to reach Music City Fencing, which is listed as “permanently closed” online, as calls would not go through on Aug. 11. Additionally, McClatchy News contacted Aaron Rothbaum, Piraino’s attorney for his criminal case, according to Tennessee Lookout, which first reported the lawsuit.
The lawsuit argues that USA Fencing’s public praise of Piraino “was based on a fantasy” and that there was “no genuine” training alternative for young Nashville fencers who dreamed of a college or Olympic career.
“The reality is that while USA Fencing was making Piraino the face of the sport for the southeastern region of the United States, he was molesting underage fencers, getting drunk with underage fencers, carrying on sexually explicit dialogue with underage fencers over text message and SnapChat …” the complaint states.
The 13-year-old’s time at Piraino’s fencing club
In July 2017, the fencer was 11 when she started training at Music City fencing before Piraino began messaging her on SnapChat two years later, according to the complaint.
The alleged sexual abuse ensued after the fencer asked Piraino for help writing an essay for a scholarship competition run by USA Fencing in 2019, the lawsuit said.
Piraino told the girl he would help her on the condition that she had to send photos of herself wearing a bikini, according to the complaint. After she did, Piraino allegedly began “pleading” for more pictures.
The coach is accused of going on to financially pressure the girl into sending naked photos by giving her a prepaid debit card, buying fencing equipment for her and waiving fees for fencing lessons, the lawsuit said.
“During the approximately two-year period when the abuse occurred, Piraino sent Jane Doe thousands of text messages, photos, and videos, many if not most of which were sexually inappropriate,” the complaint states.
The girl “soon learned to expect that her normal life activities as a teenager — going to school, doing homework, spending time with friends, having dinner with her family — would be set against a backdrop of incoming sexually explicit communications, photos, and videos from Piraino.”
When the teen refused to send photos and videos to Piraino, he would arrive to fencing practice “in a rage” and subject her to harsh verbal and physical treatment in front of other fencers, the lawsuit said.
In terms of physical punishment, the girl started suffering shoulder pain and the coach would purposefully order her to perform exercises that would hurt her shoulder further, according to the complaint. Because of this, her family says she has permanent injuries.
What’s more, Piraino began to inappropriately touch her at practices and tournaments when others were unable to notice, according to the lawsuit.
“In late 2020 and early 2021, it became clear to Jane Doe that Piraino was grooming her to be raped,” the complaint states.
Ultimately, due to her shoulder pain, the girl was allowed time away from fencing for healing, according to the lawsuit. As a result, she used this time to end the alleged sexual abuse.
In July 2021, the girl started seeing a psychotherapist and reported Piraino’s abuse, the complaint states. This led to his arrest in Nashville roughly a month later.
The lawsuit alleges “USA Fencing has been aware for years of the risk that an underage fencer could be sexually abused by a coach or other adult.”
The spokesman for the organization, Wendell, told McClatchy News that “the safety of our fencers is our top priority.”
Wendell added that the organization conducts background checks on USA Fencing member coaches and requires them to undergo yearly training as part of its SafeSport and Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies.
An attorney for the girl and the family, George H. Smith, told McClatchy News in a statement that “USA Fencing’s promotion of Piraino, its handling of sexual abuse problems within the sport prior to the abuse of our client, and the departure of the organization’s key executives within the past year have been discussed at length in the media and online.”
In regards to the teen, Smith said, “What she has suffered is more than any child or their parents should ever have to.”
Piraino is detained in Davidson County jail as of Aug. 11.
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