Woman who sued Pomona Unified alleging abuse by coach settles lawsuit

A former Pomona High School girls’ basketball player who alleged she was sexually abused in the mid-1990s by a coach on the boys’ team has reached a conditional settlement of her lawsuit against the Pomona Unified School District, attorneys in the case told a judge Tuesday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Fahey directed defense attorneys to find out when the Board of Education is scheduled to vote on final approval of the accord as well as the status of the district’s cross-complaint against the former coach, Brian Crichlow.

The cross-complaint sought indemnity for any damages the PUSD might have incurred had the case gone to trial.

No terms were divulged in the plaintiff’s settlement of her suit brought against the PUSD and Crichlow in March 2021, in which she is identified only as Jane Doe 1. Now in her early 40s, the plaintiff was 15 years old when she entered the ninth grade for the 1995-96 school year and met Crichlow, then in his late 20s, through her participation in the girls basketball program, the suit stated.

Crichlow allegedly began grooming Doe “with the intent to manipulate her emotions and take advantage of her young age so that he could ultimately sexually abuse the plaintiff,” according to the suit, which further states the first sexual contact occurred in 1997 when Crichlow allegedly groped her.

Matters escalated from there and involved “hundreds of acts” of inappropriate behavior by Crichlow toward the plaintiff in addition to supplying Doe and some of her fellow female PHS students with alcohol, according to the suit, which further alleges that the district knew of prior allegations against Crichlow of a similar nature, but covered them up to avoid lawsuits and negative media stories.

After Doe’s 1999 graduation, Crichlow “continued to contact the plaintiff for several years following the abuse in an attempt to further victimize and control the plaintiff,” the suit alleges.