Michael Cwirka, a former high school swim coach in Connecticut, has been officially banned by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, appearing in the Center’s banned database as well as USA Swimming’s banned list.
The 29-year-old Cwirka was arrested back in September and charged with three counts of second degree sexual assault along with five counts of fourth degree sexual assault. Cwirka was accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student. The student (who also swam for Cwirka) told her therapist that she’d had a relationship with Cwirka when she was 17, and that the relationship lasted through November of 2017. Local media outlets reported last month that police searched her phone and found upwards of 2100 text messages between the two, some of them sexual in nature.
Cwirka now appears as “permanently ineligible” in the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s database – the Center now handles all investigations into coaching abuse and hands out all bans, which extend not only to swimming but to all Olympic sports. The decision date is listed as September 13, 2018. That’s also the date listed on USA Swimming’s banned list.
A report from MyRecordJournal.com from September 12 says Cwirka at the time remained on paid leave from his teaching position as the school conducted its own investigation.
Safe sport…only a month behind the police!
OK, time to stop paying him.