Coastal Carolina’s cheerleading team has been suspended indefinitely following an anonymous allegation of team members committing “a long list of things.” Those claims include prostitution, buying alcohol for underage team members, and paying others to complete homework assignments. According to WMBF News, the letter was sent to the school’s president, David DeCenzo, on March 7. The team was informed of the allegations during practice this week.
Coastal Carolina cheerleaders suspended after anonymous allegation of prostitution
A letter containing various claims was sent to the school’s president.
According to the cheerleader, the team was met by police outside the HTC Center after practice, who called the names of individual team members, and took them to CCU’s police station for questioning. During the questioning, the cheerleader said police searched through their cell phones. She said officers then told them they could leave around 11 p.m., after telling them they did nothing wrong.
There are currently no incident reports pertaining to the conduct investigation, CCU Vice President of Communications William M. Plate Jr. stated.
“At this time, we can only confirm the suspension because this is an ongoing investigation,” said Plate via The State in an email.
The CCU Athletics website has since removed the cheerleading section, and it now redirects to the school’s main Spirit Team page.
The team was scheduled for a cheerleading competition in Daytona Beach, Fla. for April 4, but a cheerleader told the news station that they are unable to attend. Event officials say the team is still fully registered to participate.
According to the news station, several members of the team have been active on social media criticizing the university’s actions.
One tweeted, “And just like that, everything you’ve ever worked for was just taken in a blink of an eye.”
William Walker, an uncle of one of the cheerleaders, said he first got wind of the incident when his niece called him from the university police station Wednesday night.
He said she sounded very angry on the phone, and proceeded to tell him that the team had been indefinitely suspended.
Horry County Police have also added that they are not involved in the investigation at this time.
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