Tony Gutiérrez / Associated Press
The Dallas Mavericks reportedly failed to properly investigate a sexual assault allegation against players’ staff director Tony Ronzone in 2019, according to an investigation by Illustrated Sports’s Jessica Luther and John Wertheim.
According to the report, a woman (who is called “Sarah” in the room) said Ronzone forcibly held her to the bed, kissed her, placed her hand on her crotch and tried to put her hand under her pants against her will in her Las Vegas hotel room.
Ronzone and the woman were in Las Vegas for the 2019 NBA Summer League. The woman said she went to Ronzone’s hotel room because he promised him tickets to the game.
Luther and Wertheim He spoke to several people who were willing to give affidavits to the Mavericks, corroborating that the woman told them a story similar to the one she told the team. However, the Mavericks did not respond to emails offering an opportunity to review those statements.
An attorney representing the Mavericks said the accuser “he refused to provide those statements to the Mavericks and to us unless certain conditions were agreed, conditions that went far beyond protecting the identity of the people who executed those statements or affidavits. “
In a statement provided to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Mavericks charged Illustrated Sports of “unilateral, incomplete and sensational” journalism. The team rejected several accusations made on the piece, said the woman was only looking for money, and said her investigation is closed until new “credible evidence” emerges:
Marc Stein @ @TheSteinLine
The Mavericks released a long statement Wednesday in response to a Sports Illustrated report detailing a new sexual assault charge against a central office executive, saying they are “appalled” that it is released without the team receiving “all of the evidence purged “https: //t.co/hNkValMFhF
According to the emails provided to Illustrated SportsThe woman’s attorneys demanded that the team sign a confidentiality agreement to protect the identities of the people in order to review the affidavits.
One person who signed an affidavit is a “former federal Homeland Security agent who is now a security consultant for an NBA team in the Eastern Conference.” The woman called him immediately after leaving Ronzone’s room and told him what happened.
“I work with victims all the time,” he said. YES. “I have no reason not to believe him.”
Ronzone declined to comment and sent questions to her lawyer, who said the accusation was “without merit” and suggested that the woman’s husband should have collected the fines.
“Her claims are without merit, her accusations change every month and we are not clear how or why her husband, who was there with her, did not come to get the tickets,” said the lawyer. Mark Baute said.
The Mavericks were accused of having a toxic organizational culture in 2018, and several women accused team officials of sexual harassment and misconduct. Owner Mark Cuban apologized for not acknowledging the organization’s problems at the time and promised a zero tolerance policy for future transgressions.
The Mavericks say they found no evidence to support the woman’s allegations against Ronzone
.
