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Monday, March 18, 2024 | Back issues
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Iowa Mom Sues Over Coach’s Sleepover With Son

The mother of an Iowa boy claims in court that a football coach and middle school teacher slept with her then-10-year-old son for two nights on an air mattress in his classroom and sexually assaulted him.

SIBLEY, Iowa (CN) – The mother of an Iowa boy claims in court that a football coach and middle school teacher slept with her then-10-year-old son for two nights on an air mattress in his classroom and sexually assaulted the boy.

The mother and her son sued the Sibley-Ocheyedan Community School District, or SOCSD, anonymously in Osceola County District Court on April 27, accusing the district of negligent hiring, retention and supervision.

“During the early morning hours of about Saturday October 3, 2015, ten-year-old SOCSD student, C.A., was found sleeping on a blow-up mattress with Mr. Kyle Ewinger, a SOCSD teacher and head varsity football coach, in Ewinger’s classroom at SOCSD,” the lawsuit states.

A bottle of KY lubricant jelly, Vaseline lotion and Ewinger’s prescription Viagra pills were also found in the classroom, according to the complaint, which does not say who discovered the two together.

Ewinger allegedly slept with the minor for two consecutive nights in the classroom until they were found. The two also showered together at the school on the morning of one of the sleepovers, according the lawsuit.

“While on SOCSD’s property, C.A. was sexually assaulted by Mr. Ewinger,” the complaint states.

The boy’s mother claims that, a few months earlier, the principal of the school saw Ewinger pull his mattress into the dorm room of two young boys during a summer football camp, but the principal never reported or followed up with the incident.

According to the complaint, a special education teacher at the school says that during the school year she saw C.A. sitting on Ewinger’s lap in his classroom. She also allegedly observed a “hickey” on the boy’s neck in the fall of 2015, but did not report or follow-up with either of the incidents.

In 2010, Ewinger taught at Riverside Elementary School in Sioux City, Iowa, where a 9-year-old boy told his therapist that Ewinger “put a pill in his ice cream and told him it would help him sleep,” according to the complaint. After the boy took the pill, Ewinger would lay with the boy while he slept and the boy reported experiencing various hallucinations, the lawsuit states.

In 2004, Ewinger was caught “humping” a minor while he slept at a school in the Mediapolis Community School District, according to the lawsuit. Various reports of Ewinger having young children sit on his lap also allegedly surfaced throughout his employment with the school. He was eventually suspended and his employment contract in Mediapolis was bought out.

Ewinger was fired from SOCSD days after being found sleeping with C.A., according to news reports.

He is currently facing a second-degree sexual assault charge in Iowa, as well as a first-degree felony sexual assault on child charge in Douglas County, Nebraska, the complaint states.

The mother and son are seeking exemplary damages for claims that the school district was negligent in failing to prevent students from allegedly being sexually harassed by Ewinger. They are represented by John M. Sandy in Spirit Lake, Iowa.

The school district did not immediately respond Monday to an email request for comment.

Follow @EmilyZantowNews
Categories / Education, Regional

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