Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Cheerleading Coach Gets Locked Up for Having Sex with High School Wrestlers

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law & Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. She was seen as a mentor, as a coach, even as a mother figure, yet nonetheless sexually preyed on these young teens. A former cheerleading coach and substitute teacher is behind bars after admitting to having sex with the high school wrestlers that her husband coached for years. The prosecutor is here with Paige Huck's sentence and what she said in court and how those victims are feeling about what's going on. And what's next for Paige Huck's ex-husband, who's also accused of rape?

Starting point is 00:00:43 Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Paige Huck was trusted to coach and teach children in Southeast Ohio's Gallia County. Now the mother and former coach has admitted to abusing that trust that was placed in her by the Gallia County School District and by parents, and she's going to prison. Huck pleaded guilty to several charges, two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of sexual battery. The boys that Huck had sex with were students at River Valley High School. They were 13, 15 and 17 at the time. Some of what Huck had been accused of doing was laid out in a federal lawsuit filed last year. It was filed also against Huck's ex-

Starting point is 00:01:26 husband and the school district. The suit claims, in 2016, Paige Huck sexually abused John Doe 1, a 17-year-old wrestler, and John Doe 2, a 15-year-old wrestler, sometimes together. And let me tell you, some of this stuff is really hard to listen to. I'll continue. The abuse of plaintiffs John Doe 1, John Doe 2, John Doe 3, John Doe 4, and John Doe 5 took place with the assistance and knowledge of Coach Huck. That's Matthew Huck. an employee of the BOE serving as both a teacher and wrestling coach at River Valley High School. Paige Huck, also a Board of Education employee, served as a substitute teacher and cheerleading coach at RVHS. The suit claims that there were inappropriate things that happened on out-of-town trips for wrestling meets with the Hucks. For instance, one allegation claims that in January of 2003, Matthew and Paige Huck watched porn in a hotel room at a wrestling meet with wrestlers.

Starting point is 00:02:30 Then later in that year, in November, the Hucks are accused of hosting a lock-in where they played pornography for the wrestlers, cheerleaders, and football players. The suit says Paige Huck engaged in sexual intercourse with numerous male students. Male students stood in a line and took turns having sex with Paige Huck in the bedroom, while Coach Huck stood next to them and watched the sexual activity. Paige Huck having sex with students and Coach Huck watching all of this. Principal Jacobs simply said he would look into it when he received a complaint about it. That's according to the federal lawsuit. And cheerleaders were actually the ones who told the principal according to the suit. And after those cheerleaders made the report, the suit claims that they were bullied and harassed.

Starting point is 00:03:19 The report to Principal Jacobs is not even noted in the personnel files of Page Huck or Coach Huck. The suit continues. John Doe 4 said that Paige Huck started abusing him when he was 13. The first sexual conduct with John Doe 4 occurred when Paige Huck stimulated the genitals of John Doe 4, who was then 13, in the Huck's van on the way home from a wrestling meet held at another school. Coach Huck was driving the van and three other students were also in the van on the way home from a wrestling meet held at another school. Coach Huck was driving the van and three other students were also in the van at the time. The suit continues. On more than one occasion, John Doe 4 saw Coach Huck watching him have sex with Paige Huck through the opening in the bedroom door. John Doe 3 was 17. The suit accuses Paige Huck of grooming him

Starting point is 00:04:02 by using sexually explicit language at school activities. Knowing that her sexual activity with John Doe 3 was wrong and would not be acceptable to anyone who found out, Paige Huck gave John Doe 3 $30 to $40 and instructed him to purchase a burner phone, which she could use to text him to avoid detection of their communications. The suit claims that Paige Huck had sex with John Doe III between 50 and 60 times during his high school years. And it also accuses her of groping him at a friend's home

Starting point is 00:04:34 and in Coach Huck's office and in the wrestling room at the high school and in vehicles on the high school campus. Eventually the suit claims that Paige Huck's conduct was addressed by school officials and she resigned, but the suit claims that Paige Huck's conduct was addressed by school officials and she resigned, but the suit claims that that didn't stop her behavior. Paige Huck was eventually banned from the school grounds in 2019. Matthew Huck is charged criminally with raping a girl. The federal lawsuit outlines allegations made by Jane Doe One, where Coach Huck is accused of

Starting point is 00:05:02 touching her under her pants. Jane Doe 1 continued to pretend to be asleep, but then got up from the encounter crying and headed to the bathroom. The suit continues. Jane Doe 1 asked a friend to take her home. During the drive, the friend told Jane Doe 1 that the same type of assault happened to her at the hands of the Hucks. Now, this is all from the federal lawsuit. And later on, you're going to hear from the lawyer representing the victims in that lawsuit. But now, Paige Huck has admitted to the sex crimes in court, and she is in jail. She will serve 10 years in prison and will testify against her ex-husband, Matt Huck, at his trial on a rape

Starting point is 00:05:43 charge in October. We cover a lot of stories here on Crime Fix where people end up needing a lawyer and this case involving Paige Huck is one of them. Morgan & Morgan is a law firm that can help you if you are ever injured in an accident. Morgan & Morgan has more than a thousand lawyers working for the firm who are ready to fight for you and stand up for your rights. Starting a claim is easy and can be done in eight clicks or less using just your smartphone. And you only pay Morgan & Morgan if you win. Isn't that great? So give it a try. Log on to ForThePeople.com slash LC Crime Fix and start your claim in eight clicks or less. Mark Weaver is the special prosecutor in this case. So Mark,

Starting point is 00:06:26 Paige Huck got 10 years. That was an agreed upon sentence. Take me inside the sentencing. What happened? Well, Paige Huck showed up to finally own up to these sex offenses she committed against children, some as young as 13. Luckily, she took remorse. She took responsibility and showed some remorse for her crimes. That always makes things better when defendants will own up to it. Maybe that's one of the reasons why she was willing to plead guilty. But as I did at the change of plea hearing, I let the judge know the serious nature of these crimes, how this was an abuse of the trust of parents who allowed their young teenagers to be in Ms. Huck's house, where she was seen as a mentor, as a coach, even as a mother figure, yet nonetheless sexually preyed on these young teens.

Starting point is 00:07:22 You said that she owned up to this and showed some remorse. Tell me, if you would, a little bit of what she said, because what she admitted to is really awful and heinous. I mean, she was in a role as a coach and as a substitute teacher to nurture children, and she was in a position of trust. So what exactly did she say, and did you feel it was genuine? Well, during the change of plea hearing, I laid out specific factual allegations for the record, and she agreed to every one of them and didn't change a single word. That shows some level of remorse. I've seen defendants over the years sort of try to squirm away from this fact or that fact. She didn't do that. And then at the

Starting point is 00:08:05 sentencing hearing, I didn't walk through the individual facts of the crime because we'd already made a record of that, but I did lay out the impact on the community, on these, they're now men, right? But they were teens at the time. I pointed to the psychological studies that suggest that children who have sex with adults go on to much more difficult lives emotionally and mentally, well-being wise. Her lawyer and she agreed with everything I said. And when it was her time to speak, she apologized. She took remorse.

Starting point is 00:08:39 She literally said, this is the worst mistake of my life. And she is ready to go to prison and start working to become a better person. Then she teared up as she apologized to her children. She has a son and a daughter now who are late teens, early twenties. And she apologized to them. There were a few family members of hers in the courtroom and she hugged one of them on the way out before she was taken to custody and sent off to begin her 10-year sentence, which under Ohio law, there is no early release because it's a sex offense. So she won't see them outside of a visiting room in a prison for 10 years.

Starting point is 00:09:16 Wow. Tell me about the impact on the community because this is a small community and I've actually heard from some people on social media who've reached out to me privately and who've told me that there were rumors about this for many years. People were hearing about these things, but nothing seemed to have been done about it. Yeah, Mr. Kelly and I, the special prosecutors, we were appointed about a year and a half ago. And when we took over the case, it was clear that there were a lot of people clamoring for something to be done. But not every teen, now adult, wants to come forward and discuss some of the most embarrassing moments of their life, knowing that it's going to be in the media. It's going to be an open court. They may have to

Starting point is 00:10:00 testify about it. In fact, after we originally indicted Paige Huck on her charges, we had a woman come forward and said that she was raped by Ms. Huck's former husband, Matthew Huck. And based on that allegation, we filed a rape charge against Matthew Huck. And that case still moves forward now. That's set for trial later this year. So the impact is that the community now knows that somebody is being held to account. I can't speak about the Matthew Huck thing. He's innocent until proven guilty. That's going to come down the road. But somebody has taken responsibility. We forced her hand because we could have taken her to trial and asked the judge to send her to prison for much longer than 10 years. But somebody has taken responsibility. And now the community knows that you cannot have

Starting point is 00:10:49 sex with young teens when you're, well, first of all, at all, if you're an adult, but certainly not as a coach or a substitute teacher without being held accountable. And I'd like to think that's what our role in this case was to hold Paige Huck accountable. You spoke on behalf of the victims. So talk to me about what you said on behalf of the victims and what the victims have said to you. Yeah, I've spoken to all the victims. These are courageous young men. Some of them have families.

Starting point is 00:11:20 They all have jobs. They all have other things they'd be rather doing. They probably didn't understand when they were young teens how wrong this is. In my sentencing memo, I actually drew the court's attention to numerous movies, television shows, even popular songs that make light of or even encourage or celebrate young teenage boys having sex with their female teacher. We've all heard some of these songs. We've seen some of the TVs and movies. And I think now that these men are adults, they recognize that this just was not normal. This was not right. This was the wrong thing to do. So I tried to channel that. None of them wanted to speak. They all had the right to speak at the sentencing, but none of

Starting point is 00:12:02 them wanted to speak. So I tried to channel where they were. And I think they would agree if they were with us right now that there's something inherently wrong with an adult who abuses the trust that a child places in her and that other parents place in her. She's the one who was supposed to know better. And she didn't. And this happened over and over again. She, as part of her plea agreement with you, is cooperating against her ex-husband in that case, Matthew Hawk. So that case, you said, is moving toward trial. Do we expect, do you expect any type of resolution to that case? You had told me previously that this was a fantasy that the two of them were living out together, engaging in sex with these kids. Yeah. We just recently finished a pretrial hearing in that case where we dismissed the three charges regarding the complicity of her

Starting point is 00:13:01 crimes. They can be filed again. And I won't say whether we're going to file them, but I will say that we've been talking to Pagehawk and getting a lot of information. So I'll let people decide for themselves whether they think that those charges are coming back. For now, we're going to just take this first trial on the issue of the rape, which is separate from what happened with the wrestlers, because the rape was a young woman in a slightly different setting than what happened with the wrestlers, where in fact, young woman in a slightly different setting than what happened with the wrestlers, where in fact, Matthew Huck was the perpetrator of that rape, as we've alleged in the indictment. So Paige Huck did agree to testify truthfully against her ex-husband.

Starting point is 00:13:36 We anticipate her lawyers or his lawyers, the ex-husband's lawyers, will try very hard to stop her from testifying. They will claim that privilege exists, marital privilege. The law is complicated in that area. I don't think they're going to be successful on some of the sort of aggressive moves they're going to take to try to keep her information from coming out. We respect the judge and the judge, we sure will make a good decision. So the upcoming trial will not be about these wrestlers and what happened with Paige. The upcoming trial will be limited to the first degree felony, which is our most serious level of felony in Ohio, on the rape case. And then when that case is over, we will have something to

Starting point is 00:14:15 say about the additional charges that were currently dismissed, but not dismissed because they were incorrect, dismissed because we're going to focus on the rape solely. When will that trial begin? It's later in October. I forget the precise date, but I think it's mid to late October. And given the number of pretrial motions that defense counsel in Matthew Huck's case says he wants to file, it's entirely possible that we'll get pushback. We have to keep our eye on issues like speedy trial and availability of witnesses and the court's docket. And so all of that stuff comes into play. Often court dates move.

Starting point is 00:14:50 I don't have any other information about whether it's going to move, but we can tell people, stay tuned. This is a very important case, and we think there's more to come. What more to come? Well, in this case, we're going to deal specifically with the rape case, but the dismissal that was at my request and Mr. Kelly's request of these three charges of complicity in his wife's sex crimes with these wrestlers, we're not saying that's not true and we're not saying that's not going to do one charge that's unrelated first, and then we will visit with defendant to see whether he wants to arrange some other outcome on what we continue to believe are very strong evidence that he was complicit in his wife's sex crimes, which means we believe he knew about them. We believe he was with her before and after, and we think the evidence will be pretty clear that he was complicit. But having said that, as a matter of judicial economy and making it a more streamlined case, we have

Starting point is 00:15:51 nali prosequid, which is a Latin term, meaning we're not prosecuting those three counts for now, not because we don't have intention to bring them again. Well, it's certainly a case that has grabbed people's attention. And the fact that Paige Huck has admitted to this and that it went on for so long under the noses of so many people, according to the civil suit, and they did nothing about it. And that's all according to a civil suit that's been filed on behalf of the victims in this case. Mark Weaver, special prosecutor, thank you so much. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:16:29 So as you heard, Matthew Huck's trial is set for October on that rape charge, and he has pleaded not guilty. His attorneys have declined to comment when I've contacted them in the past. Previously, I spoke with Craig Tuttle. He represents the victims in the federal lawsuit. So what does this mean for your civil case? Do you expect the district to potentially settle the case now? I don't know that this is a linchpin in their decision point as far as whether to settle the

Starting point is 00:16:59 case or not. Frankly, the school district's been aware of these claims for over two years, and here we are. We find ourselves in federal court, we find ourselves early in discovery, and we have a lot more that we intend to learn. But what we've learned so far certainly would inspire many defendants to come to the table and talk about the case because as we learn more, it's not getting any better for them. And this indication that Paige Huck is going to testify against Matthew Huck is just more evidence that the people within the district knew or should have known what was going on. Matthew Huck was an employee of that

Starting point is 00:17:38 district until we filed our lawsuit. So much longer than his wife was he a mandatory reporter working in the school district aware of the abuse of students and he sat there silently so we think that this is is certainly going to push things in our direction in this case and we look forward to continuing to dig in and figure out how many more people knew more information about this and yet remain silent because that's really what our case is about. It's not about Matthew Hawk. It's not about Paige Hawk. It's about the individuals who knew or should have known what they were up to and allowed it to keep going for so many years. And how are your clients doing? I mean, that's really one of the most

Starting point is 00:18:19 important things too. I mean, some of them are well into adulthood now, but how are they doing now that she has taken some responsibility and she's being held accountable? She's going to go to prison for 10 years eventually. So are they feeling vindicated and validated in some respect? Is this going to help them heal? Yeah, I think the unique thing is they're all handling it very differently. I mean, they're obviously individuals themselves, and the way they're reacting to this bit of news is unique as to each of them. But I think globally, everyone is in agreement that this is justice. It's a measure of justice. It means something. It validates them coming forward and being brave enough to tell

Starting point is 00:19:06 their story. It validates the truth of their story because obviously she's admitting to this. This is not just their version of events anymore. This is the truth. This is the truth that she is readily agreeing to. And I think that it is a measure of healing, but I don't think that we're going to see complete healing and complete opportunity for growth until Matthew Huck is dealt with because he was involved in all of these events and until the school is held responsible for what they failed to do to protect the children. For its part, the Gallia County School District had previously released a statement to the Columbus Dispatch saying the district was sickened by the allegations. All children in our community have the right to be safe from predatory behavior.

Starting point is 00:19:49 Gallia County families entrust us with the responsibility of educating and protecting their children, and the safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority. I had previously reached out to the district and had not received a response when asking for a comment. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Cheerleading Coach Gets Locked Up for Having Sex with High School Wrestlers

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Cheerleading Coach Gets Locked Up for Having Sex with High School Wrestlers

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