Bergen Catholic seeks ban on former wrestler who accused coach of sexual harassment

Is it payback? Or is it just about following the rules and playing fair?

Such are the thorny questions hovering over a special hearing before state high school athletic officials to determine whether a former Bergen Catholic High School wrestler who accused his coach of sexual harassment can wrestle for another high school team.

The hearing, which is scheduled to take place Wednesday afternoon before the Eligibility Appeals Committee of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, the prime governing body for high school sports throughout the state, is yet another chapter in the increasingly complicated legal web that has enveloped former Bergen Catholic wrestler Anthony Asatrian.

Asatrian, 18, of Paramus, withdrew from Bergen Catholic High School earlier this year, then filed a lawsuit in state Superior Court in which he accused Coach David Bell and others at the school of sexual abuse, sexual harassment and sexual assault.

A cornerstone of Asatrian’s legal claims are 94 text message exchanges — some of them lasting hours — in which Bell frequently expressed his love and other highly personal sentiments to Asatrian.

Bell began sending the personal texts when Asatrian was a 15-year-old freshman and had just been given a new cellphone by his parents. The coach’s last text, in January, arrived shortly before Bergen Catholic officials dismissed Asatrian from the wrestling squad.

Asatrian had kept quiet about the nearly two years' worth of texts from his coach. But after being booted off the Bergen Catholic wrestling team in January, Asatrian told his parents. They then pulled him from Bergen Catholic, and he enrolled at Paramus High School.

In a series of exclusive interviews last summer — and again this week — Asatrian told NorthJersey.com and the USA TODAY Network New Jersey that he felt he had to leave Bergen Catholic to avoid what he described as a predatory atmosphere of sexual harassment by Bell in the text messages. Asatrian also said that while the text messages made him sexually uncomfortable, he also insisted that his coach never touched him or overtly tried to have a sexual relationship with him.

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Next week, Asatrian, a senior who is now considered a prime contender for a state wrestling championship and a college scholarship, plans to try out for the Paramus wrestling squad. Asatrian said he hoped it would be the start of a stellar wrestling season for him.

Last year, as a junior at Bergen Catholic, where he was a two-time district champion, he was ranked as the nation’s No. 25 wrestler in the 160-pound weight class by Win Magazine, a respected publication that keeps tabs on high school and college wrestlers across America. This year, the “Wrestling Full Circle” website ranked Asatrian as the No. 2 160-pound wrestler in New Jersey.

But Asatrian’s dreams of contending for a state wrestling championship — and receiving a scholarship to a top college — could be blocked if Bergen Catholic succeeds in its effort to convince state athletic officials that he should be banned from wrestling for Paramus in the coming season.

Earlier this fall, Bergen Catholic officials declined to sign off on a waiver — normally a formality for transfer students — that would allow Asatrian to resume wrestling at Paramus High School.

Bergen Catholic claims that Asatrian sought an “athletic advantage” in transferring to Paramus and therefore should be banned from the sport for a year.

In a series of written statements to the state athletic association, which were obtained by the Network, Bergen Catholic claimed Asatrian’s real reason for transferring was that he was “seeking relief due to a conflict” with Bell over his place on the team.

Bergen Catholic also claimed that by transferring to Paramus High School, Asatrian was “seeking to nullify punitive action” — in this case his dismissal from the team by Bergen Catholic officials after Asatrian and his father complained about his not being given a chance to "wrestle-off" against a rival teammate and gain a prime spot on the team for a shot at a state championship.

In most cases, when student athletes transfer to another school, they are required to sit out at least 30 days during the next season before resuming their sport on a new team. The yearlong ban of Asatrian, which Bergen Catholic is seeking, would essentially end his high school wrestling career.

Asatrian’s father, Harry, who is an attorney specializing in immigration cases, called Bergen Catholic’s action a “hit job” on his son for bringing to light Bell’s personal texts in a lawsuit.

“The only motive is ‘Oh, you sued us, we’ll show you,’” Asatrian said of Bergen Catholic's effort to convince the state athletic association to ban his son for this season. “This is really payback. This is malicious intent.”

“They’re concerned because Tony could be the next state champion,” Asatrian added. “It’s not going to make them look good. They’re trying to hurt his ability to get into college.

For his part, Anthony Asatrian — known as "Tony" to his family, friends and wrestling colleagues — said he was not shocked by the latest effort by Bergen Catholic to block his wrestling career.

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"I knew that they were going to try everything,” Tony Asatrian said in an interview this week. “I didn’t think they would stoop this low.”

“Anthony did not transfer voluntarily,” said one of his attorneys, David Eisbrouch of Hackensack. “Anthony was put in a position where he had to transfer. After he was kicked off the team, his parents would not let him go back after his parents found out about the texting.”

Bergen Catholic’s New York City-based legal team, its athletic director and its wrestling coach did not respond to requests for comment on why they are trying to block Asatrian from wrestling in the coming year.

On Tuesday, Bergen Catholic President Brian Mahoney issued a two-sentence statement in which he said the school “made the only obvious and applicable selection” on Asatrian’s athletic transfer request. The statement did not mention the text messages from Bell or Asatrian’s claims of sexual harassment.

“The school stands by its notation of ‘competitive advantage’ by Asatrian," Mahoney said, declining to answer further questions because he said the matter is “in litigation.”

Although it’s still unclear whether sexual harassment will be addressed at the Eligibility Appeals Committee hearing, the issue of how high school sports officials handle questions about sexual harassment is nonetheless a concern to state athletic officials.

Steven Goodell, the chief counsel for the state interscholastic athletic association, said the Eligibility Appeals Committee has never had to consider allegations of sexual harassment in determining whether a student-athlete could transfer to another school and not be penalized with a yearlong suspension. But Goodell said the committee has ruled in favor of several student athletes who transferred because they had been bullied.

A yearlong ban on a student athlete who transfers to another school for an "athletic advantage" is relatively rare in New Jersey.

Larry White, the athletic association's executive director, said fewer than a dozen students are subject to such a ban each year. So far in 2018, only three students were forced to sit out for a year after transferring for "athletic advantage," the association said.

Whether the Eligibility Appeals Committee will take up the question of sexual harassment in the case of Anthony Asatrian remains to be seen.

In emails to the committee that were obtained by the Network, Bergen Catholic’s attorneys indicate that they plan to focus their arguments on the basic question of whether Asatrian merely had a disagreement with his coach and also tried to avoid being disciplined by Bergen Catholic.

“Bergen Catholic believes that the transfer is designed” to nullify “punitive action,” wrote Anthony Dougherty, an attorney for Bergen Catholic.

Diana Warshow, another member of Asatrian's legal team, said the Eligibility Appeals Committee could inadvertently send a discouraging message to students if it does not consider the issue of texting and sexual harassment.

“I think Bergen Catholic is sending a message to any future accusers,” Warshow said. “The message being sent to any student who comes forth is that we are going to take every and all actions available and ruin your life.”

State Sen. Paul Sarlo, a Democrat from Wood-Ridge who serves on the association’s executive committee, said the question of whether Asatrian was sexually harassed should be addressed at the hearing on his status in the upcoming wrestling season.

“If the kid left because he didn’t like the coach and he wasn’t getting playing time, that’s pretty cut and dry,” Sarlo said. “But if he left because of sexual harassment, that’s going to be the hard question. That is the fundamental question that needs to be decided.”

Also hovering in the background are a series of new lawsuits by Bergen Catholic and Bell in which they accuse the Asatrian family and its attorneys of defamation.

In another email obtained by the Network, Asatrian’s attorneys accused Bergen Catholic of trying to use the threat of banning him from wrestling as “leverage” to persuade him to drop his civil lawsuit.

In August, a state Superior Court judge dismissed several elements of Asatrian's lawsuit but left intact several others that allowed his case to continue. The judge also asked both sides to settle the matter without going to trial.

So far, there is no progress toward any settlement in Asatrian's case — or the other cases filed by Bergen Catholic and Bell against the family and their attorneys.

Email: kellym@northjersey.com