Gabriela N. was a competitive swimmer when she attended Carmel High School, which is one of 15 schools in the affluent Carmel Clay School District that’s just north of Indianapolis.

The Carmel High School Girls Swim Team is known for its powerhouse swimmers. In 2017, the girls earned their 31st consecutive state championship. That was also the year that assistant swim coach John Goelz began grooming Gabriela to accept his criminal sexual advances.

Grooming is the term that’s used to describe how child molesters use their positions of authority to gain a victims’ trust.

Gabriela was a naive 16-year-old in 2017.

But things changed when Gabriela turned 18: she found the strength to sue Goelz for repeatedly raping her. The lawsuit, filed by attorney Jonathan Little, also named the Carmel Clay Schools, the Red Roof Inn and head swim coach Chris Plumb.

“Coach Plumb had been warned by parents that Goelz was acting inappropriately around female swimmers,” attorney Little said. “But Plumb did nothing to protect the girls, when he should have reported the parents’ concerns to police, as required by Indiana law.”

Gabriela had her first-ever sexual experience with Goelz in early 2017; a year later they had vaginal intercourse for the second time and Goelz began pressuring Gabriela to engage in anal sex.

She steadfastly refused.

Gabriela reached her breaking point in June 2018, when Goelz took her to a Red Roof Inn and used his cell phone to record his “sordid and illegal encounter,” the lawsuit says.

“What Goelz did is considered child pornography,” Mr. Little added. “Her friend (also a minor) discovered the pictures and turned Goelz into the police.”

As a result, Goelz was convicted in federal court of sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography. He is now serving a 200-month prison sentence.

“Two institutions failed Gabriela,” Mr. Little said. “The Carmel Clay School District and the Red Roof Inn both failed to train their employees on ways to identify pedophiles. It’s a well-known fact that child molesters go where the kids are, which is why so many lawsuits are being brought against school districts. It’s also a well-known fact hotels and motels are hot spots for sex traffickers and child molesters. So, Red Roof Inn employees should have been suspicious when an adult man checked in with a young girl.”

The hospitality industry even has a program that teaches hoteliers how to spot pedophiles and sex traffickers.

Although Gabriela’s case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, the money from the settlement is helping her to recover from the abuses she suffered.

She is now in college.

“One thing I learned during Gabriela’s case is that former USA Swimming coach Ray Lawrence was a member of Carmel High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame. I already knew that Lawrence was banned from USA Swimming for life because his name came up during a sexual abuse lawsuit that I filed against USA Swimming in 2008. Lawrence coached at Carmel High School from 1979 to 1994, We are able to bring it to the attention of the Indianapolis Star and persuaded the school to remove him from the Hall of Fame as part of the Gabriella N. litigation.”

That’s an example of how Jonathan Little goes the extra mile to make sure his clients receive the best representation and outcomes.