September 21, 2015
A former member of the Rutgers University-Camden women’s volleyball team has filed a lawsuit against the university claiming that she was coerced into a sexual relationship and secretly videotaped by a former assistant coach for the team.
Chelsea Schmotzer, of Cherry Hill, also asserts in the lawsuit that her complaints of harassment were met with “deliberate indifference” by the head of the school’s athletics department.
According to the Courier Post, which obtained a copy of the civil rights suit filed Wednesday in federal court, Schmotzer is seeking unspecified damages.
The lawsuit alleges Matthew Dever, then a recruiter and assistant head coach for the university's volleyball team, “used his position of power” to force Schmotzer into a sexual relationship over the month of April 2010.
At one point, Dever also allegedly secretly videotaped Schmotzer during sex, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit claims the alleged harassment led Schmotzer to quit the team and transfer to Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus in the fall of 2012.
Read the full Courier Post article here.
