Former James Madison High School coach Noah Rucker has been charged with three counts of “indecent liberties with a minor while in a custodial and/or supervisory position,” according to local ABC affiliate WJLA.
The alleged crime happened 11 years ago, when Rucker was 29 and the victim was 17, though the victim has only recently come forward, when Rucker was the coach at James Madison High. Other programs that he has coached include Bishop Ireton High School.
His most recent job has been with the Curl Burke West-Site, where he has since been removed as one of the coaches. According to an online registry, he is engaged to another Curl Burke coach, with the wedding date having been set for August 11th. He was also on the 2005 Eastern Zone PVS coaching staff, as a coach of the MAKO Club.
Other clubs that he has been confirmed to be affiliated with include the Wellington Dolphins and PATRIOT, a former club that he owned and was the head coach of.
If convicted, Rucker would be one of the more high-profile coaches in the recent run of sexual abuse revelations in the sport.
James Madison was the Virginia AAA Boys State Champions in 2009.
In a statement to WJLA, Rucker denies the charges:
“Noah Rucker denies all charges against him and looks forward to clearing his name at trial if not before that time. [The alleged victim] told several people at the time of the initial investigation that she and Mr. Rucker had not been sexually intimate. Since she claims to be physically incapable of lying, that must be true. We also find it hard to believe that [the alleged victim] voluntarily would have dated Mr. Rucker when she was 21 years of age if he actually had molested her when she was fifteen.
“[The alleged victim] clearly is a troubled young woman, but Mr. Rucker is not the cause of her troubles.
“Mr. Rucker and his family and friends have no further comment.”
I had Noah as a coach personally at Lowes Island Country Club, which is now Trump National. He was a nice guy, and wore cool sunglasses. And he was replaced by another Curl coach, Amy
I used 2 swim with that coach and my little brother swam with him and I always had a bad feeling about coach Noah
ETTIE June 18, 2012 at 4:12 pm
The Sandusky Trial may play in here.While the actual acts themselves do not reflect what this victim recalls or states happened, the situation is very similar.When this trial is in the news it brings up memories of things that some victims have successfully buried.You suddenly see the situation as an adult and remember how powerless you felt as a child.The situation is similar in that the alleged perpetrator was someone in a position of Authority(COACH) and was highly respected.So a child may feel powerless to report the situation.Now that the victim is an adult and is seeing this through an adults eyes, it may give her the courage to come forward.I was… Read more »
i am a former swimmer that trained around him as a teenager. never under him but i knew friends that did and would tell me they had heard things of this nature in regards to him and one of their female team mates.
The Sandusky Trial may play in here.While the actual acts themselves do not reflect what this victim recalls or states happened, the situation is very similar.When this trial is in the news it brings up memories of things that some victims have successfully buried.You suddenly see the situation as an adult and remember how powerless you felt as a child.The situation is similar in that the alleged perpetrator was someone in a position of Authority(COACH) and was highly respected.So a child may feel powerless to report the situation.Now that the victim is an adult and is seeing this through an adults eyes, it may give her the courage to come forward.I was abused as a child and still don’t know… Read more »
This is quite the unfortunate event. Of course one would hope that people, particularly the swimming community, would reserve judgement until after a trail takes place. The facts at this point seem a bit hazy – Why would an alleged victim date a former abuser 4 years after the incident? Is she claiming to have maintained contact that entire time? Is 21 not old enough to have gained perspective? And just what are the facts regarding his current fiance (and in some news articles “wife”)? Did he begin dating her when she was under 18?
I would caution those in the swimming community, and the community at large, to wait until all the facts have been revealed.
Of course he is innocent until proven guilty but that doesn’t mean you have to cast aspersions on the motives of the victim either . It is not unusual for victims to come forward after 10 years or more years as we have seen far to often.
Comparing this situation to the Jerry Sandusky case at Penn State is lunacy. They are completely different. Was Coach Rucker seen sodomizing young boys in the shower by other coaches on the Curl staff? Hardly………
Get a clue!
all junker23 said about the Sandusky case was comparing the length of time accusers came forward to show that it is not an entirely uncommon practice. Also, I personally know Noah and Noah’s young fiancee and there have been plenty of rumors that they started their relationship while she was underage and there have been numerous complaints/rumors about Noah’s relationships with young girls.
Yup, Former Swimmer understood what I was getting at.
“In sexual-assault trials, psychology experts could advise jurors, for example, that it is common for child-sex-abuse victims to maintain relationships with the authority figures who attacked them and that it’s also common for a victim to not reveal the abuse for years. Source.
The Sandusky case was the most recent high-profile example I could think of involving multiple instances of delayed reporting.