ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL — A lawsuit filed this month accuses a Chesterfield tennis club of negligence in the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl by an instructor.
Javier Pozo, the former instructor, in February 2016 was sentenced to nine months in jail on statutory rape and sodomy charges. He, Chesterfield-based Forest Lake Tennis Club, Mike Miller and Miller Tennis Academy are listed as defendants. Miller Tennis Academy operates at Forest Lake, according to the suit, filed in St. Louis County Circuit Court.
The suit says Forest Lake, whose president is Eugene Ellis, and Miller was so aware of the risk of sexual abuse of one of their minor athletes that they purchased insurance protection for molestation and abuse. It said they ignored the rules and guidelines of the United States Tennis Association, and when they learned of Pozo's conduct, "they turned a blind eye and dismissed all the red flags of grooming and manipulation of a minor athlete."
