College Cheerleading Team Suspended Over Charges of Sugar Daddy Service
An entire college cheerleading team has been suspended from cheering due to an investigation that some work as strippers and escorts.
According to an investigation report obtained by the Sun News, a local paper in Myrtle Beach, cheerleaders at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., were suspended on March 30 after it was discovered that some had accepted dates for fees between $100 and $1,500 per date. Members also reportedly received gifts such as Michael Kors bags, shoes, and clothing.
An anonymous letter from a “concerned parent” dated March 8 and addressed to university President David A. Decenzo kicked off the investigation. It read in part:
“I am disgusted over things that I have witnessed this past year at CCU. … There is a rampant use of alcohol, drugs, binge drinking, using fake ID’s, being busted by cops at parties for underage drinking, stripping at the male strip clubs, prostitution, the girls that are stripping try [to] recruit new girls when they join the cheerleading team to strip at the strip club, veterans of the team provide alcohol to underage teammates, bullying is done by veterans of the team. There are quite a few cheerleader’s paying other students to do their schoolwork.”
The letter continued, “These are several of the girls that work at the local Strip Club as strippers and escorts. They also prostitute themselves out. It is not a wise idea to let the strip clubs bring their van to the games to advertise it does not look appropriate. Being that there are several girls that work as strippers and escorts at strip clubs. They try to recruit other cheerleaders to strip at the club and escort by bragging and flaunting the large amounts of cash money they make and gift they are given. The name a few the following are strippers and escorts at strip clubs, and prostitute themselves out: [redacted] (she has left CCU and the local strip club.)”
The university did not return Yahoo Beauty’s request for comment; however, according to the police report, school officials are not aware of the letter writer’s identity, only that he is a white, “heavy-set” male with “salt and pepper-colored hair.”
According to the report, the cheerleaders ran their escort services through the website Seeking Arrangement (for relationships between “Sugar Babies and “Sugar Daddies”), and text messages between the women on the team warned anyone who works at a strip club or has the Seeking Arrangement app to quit both until the investigation is over. The report also stated that while the cheerleaders did not fulfill sexual favors, there was “evidence of an escort service.”
Amy Lawrence, a Myrtle Beach lawyer who is representing five of the 18 cheerleaders did not respond to Yahoo Beauty’s request for comment; however, she told the Sun News on April 6, “I am shocked and saddened to see these girls become victims of these baseless claims from an anonymous source. Even more disheartening is that these girls were not permitted due process in their own defense to show just how outlandish and ridiculous these allegations truly are.”
That evening, the attorney also released a letter to the media stating, in part, “It’s my understanding that the investigation has encompassed interviews and searches subsequent to warrants. Yet, no one has been charged, no arrests have been made and a lot of really wonderful, kind, smart women have been smeared in the public eye yet again, at the hand of the University they love and [that] their parents entrusted [with] their well-being.”
She added, “Coastal Carolina has chosen again to make a knee jerk reaction when faced with the fact that they have made the wrong decision. This website is not a prostitution website, it is one that is completely LEGAL and while it may make some feel uneasy, it begs to ask the question – What is happening in the lives of these 4 young women?”
Calling the anonymous letter-writer a “nameless coward,” Lawrence added, “Would this ever happen to a Male Sports Team? We have all read about male athletes at Coastal Carolina being accused of drugs, domestic violence and rape. Yet, most of those men are still playing the sport and not one team was suspended in retribution for the actual crimes of their teammates.”
Seeking Arrangement has also rallied to defend the cheerleaders. CEO Brandon Wade sent an email to local news station ABC 15 stating: “To portray these women as ‘prostitutes’ just because you do not understand or agree with their dating choice is bullying. We will not stand for slut shaming, and find it wildly inappropriate for a public university to comment and pass judgment on the dating habits of their students. Sugar Babies are not escorts. They are ambitious, goal oriented individuals who [are] looking for a specific kind of relationship.”
The site also agreed to “foot the bill” for the cheerleaders’ legal fees.
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