A Brownstown Township sport center is coming under fire for hosting a influential volleyball camp, whose owner is accused of sexually abusing young girls.
The controversy surrounds Sports Performance out of Illinois and its owner Rick Butler, who is named in a sexual abuse lawsuit.
The allegations in the lawsuit date back to the early 1980s, where five of the then teenaged victims describing being raped.
The allegations have some in the volleyball community concerned and parents may not know who they are paying to send their teens to see.
The 74-page lawsuit accused Rick Butler and his wife, Cheryl, of deceiving parents by hiding Rick's history of sexual abuse in his program, now know as Sports Performance Volleyball Camp by Great Lakes Center.
"Rick Butler has received lifetime bans from AAU, USAV and I think JVA, our governing bodies, and these bans should preclude, should preclude him from having any association with young athletes," says Paige Gabel.
Gabel says because Butler's camp is so large, she fears parents may not make the connection with the camp comes to the Brownstown Sports Center in July.
But she feels a line needs to be drawn with such serious allegations - especially in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal.
"I'm concerned that parents hard earned dollars are going to support a man who has multiple allegations and abuse stories from victims against him," she says.
It is important to note that Butler has never been charged criminally and the statue of limitations have passed.
The parents of one of his accusers is suing for $5 million in civil court.
Attempts to ready the Brownstown Sports Center have not been successful.
