USA CRITS director Scott Morris suspended by SafeSport
SafeSport suspension for allegations of misconduct prompts at least two teams to cut ties with criterium series.
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USA CRITS managing director Scott Morris received a temporary suspension from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an organization that works with Olympic sports to protect participants from emotional, physical and sexual abuse and misconduct.
USA CRITS runs a series of U.S. criteriums put on by independent operators and sanctioned by USA Cycling.
Morris was suspended for allegations of misconduct by SafeSport on September 14, and has since been dismissed from USA CRITS. SafeSport did not publish details of the misconduct allegations.
Morris was charged in 2008 with possession of child pornography, and was later convicted of computer services theft in that case. SafeSport has not confirmed a connection, but teams have removed themselves from the series because of this revelation.
When Morris entered a masters race this season and applied for a one-day license, the U.S. SafeSport system flagged him, according to people familiar with the situation. USA CRITS was notified of the suspension ahead of its last event of the season in Winston-Salem.
Two teams — L39ion of Los Angeles and Aevelo — announced that they will no longer participate in USA CRITS because of this news.
“We had heard some rumors and started looking into it for ourselves,” Reed McCalvin, L39ION’s director of finance and culture, told CyclingTips. “As a result, we’re not comfortable supporting USA CRITS into the future.”
VeloNews is investigating this story — having requested comment from Scott Morris, USA Cycling, SafeSport, and other teams that participated in USA CRITS events — and we will continue to report on it.