MARIETTA, Ga. — Cobb County Police confirmed on Monday they are investigating an allegation of inappropriate conduct stemming from a Marietta cheerleading gym that involved a child victim.
The department told 11Alive's Cody Alcorn they could not comment further on the allegations because of the victim's status as a minor, but they did confirm an active investigation centering on the Stingray Allstars program.
11Alive obtained an email sent to parents last week by Stingray Allstars that described "alleged inappropriate conduct" involving an "adult Steel athlete that might include minors on Green and Steel."
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Green and Steel refer to varying team and age levels within the larger program.
The allegation was said to have occurred with the adult athlete/instructor between 2019-2021.
"If your athlete's name was mentioned we have already spoken to your family directly, it has been turned into law enforcement as well as the USASF," the email continued. USASF is the U.S. All Star Federation, a cheerleading governing body.
The email also notes that Stingrays "provided our independent compliance company's phone number for you to contact directly." The email identified that compliance company as The Sports Compliance Company.
"Should you be looking for a place to learn more about abuse prevention and awareness as it pertains to sport, we've attached the US Center for SafeSport's Parent Toolkit for you to review should you be looking for tools to learn and discuss this topic at home," the email said.
There was no immediate identifying information about a possible suspect available.
The investigation into the Stingrays allegation comes amid heightened scrutiny on competitive cheer programs following the sexual abuse scandal that emerged out of South Carolina-based Rockstar Cheer.
The 49-year-old founder of Rockstar, Scott Foster, died by suicide in August just before a lawsuit was filed representing 100 victims. One of those victims now lives in Austell, and several Atlanta-area gyms had branding deals with Rockstar that they dropped as the scandal mushroomed.
There is no connection between Rockstar and Stingrays.
