Mt. San Antonio College and members of its athletics staff are being sued by seven members of the women's track team, who allege they were sexually harassed for a year and a half by a former assistant coach.
The lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court accuses former Assistant Coach Carlos Moore of inappropriate conduct both on and off campus. The suit also names Mt. SAC Athletic Director Joe Jennum, head coaches Doug Todd and Mike Goff and Assistant Coach Ernie "Dr. G" Gregoire."
In addition to sexual harassment, the suit alleges sexual battery, negligence, retaliation, false imprisonment, gender discrimination and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The seven plaintiffs, who are identified only by their initials, are asking for unspecified damages.
Jennum did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Mt. San Antonio College did issue a brief statement.
"We do not comment on ongoing litigation, especially in this case as we just received the lawsuit. It has been forwarded to counsel for review and handling."
According to the complaint, all seven young women began attending the Walnut community college in August 2010 and the harassment allegedly began a month later. They maintain the alleged abuses continued until March of this year.
Moore allegedly harassed the women with text messages, by inappropriately touching them and by keeping them against their will in areas of the Mt. SAC athletic department.
The track team members also allegedly were harassed by Moore off-campus while competing with other schools, according to the lawsuit.
Mt. SAC administrators knew or should have known about Moore's "propensities regarding his inappropriate sexual contact with students," but failed to supervise him or remove him from his position, the suit alleges.
After the women complained about Moore, they were given poor performance evaluations and were prevented from taking part in track team events, according to their complaint.
--Local Editor Melanie C. Johnson contributed to this report.
