SafeSport Center suspends former interim CEO

Olympics, Sports Seattle

The former interim CEO of the U.S. Center for SafeSport has been temporarily suspended by the center he used to run for failure to report a case.

The center posted the suspension for Regis Becker earlier this week. It also included a charge of abuse of process. Becker served as a member of the center’s board of directors when it opened in 2017, then took over as interim CEO and ran the organization for about six months at the start of 2019.

The center’s disciplinary database had “probation” and “education” listed under the “additional details” column regarding Becker’s case. It said his case was subject to appeal and not yet final.

Becker did not respond to a text sent by The Associated Press to a cell phone listed under his name.

Center spokesman Dan Hill said the center would not comment on the case specifically.

“We aim to handle every allegation with the same level of professionalism, objectivity and fairness,” Hill said. “Since opening its doors in 2017, the center has demonstrated a track record of holding participants accountable for misconduct, irrespective of their prominence, position or perceived importance to a sport.”

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Before coming to the center, Becker served as an FBI special agent, then went to Penn State to launch the school’s ethics and compliance program in the aftermath of the sex-abuse scandal that led to the imprisonment of longtime assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Becker was a longtime weightlifting coach and also served as a member of USA Weightlifting’s board of directors. USA Weightlifting is listed as the sport affiliation on Becker’s entry in the SafeSport database.

The center’s code of conduct includes five subsections about reporting, part of which describes an “obligation (that) includes reporting, on a timely basis, all information of which an Adult Participant becomes aware, including the names of witnesses, third-party reporters, and Claimants.”

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports