DA launches boxing probe/ Investigators target alleged misuse
of $3.2 million in grants
Colorado Springs Gazette - Telegraph - Colorado Springs, Colo.
Author: Mike Spence; Gazette Telegraph
Date: Oct 11, 1996
Start Page: A.1
Section: A SECTION
Text Word Count: 1022
Abstract (Document Summary)
The 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office is investigating possible criminal charges in connection with USA Boxing's alleged
misappropriation of $3.2 million in grants from the U.S. Olympic Committee.
The audit was expected to last three days. But when USOC auditors discovered USA Boxing officials had received $2.36 million in
allegedly improper grants between 1991 and 1995, they expanded their investigation to include 1989 and 1990. Sources said USA
Boxing had received an additional $800,000 in allegedly improper grants between 1989 and 1990.
Copies of documents obtained from boxing sources by the Gazette Telegraph show that in at least three cases, USA Boxing checks
were written but never cashed. However, copies of those checks were sent to the USOC for reimbursement, boxing sources said.
USA Boxing Admits Misuse of More Than $2 Million
SPORTS WEEKENDSeptember 06, 1996|TIM KAWAKAMIA routine U.S. Olympic Committee audit has discovered that
USA Boxing misappropriated more than $2 million in USOC grant money from 1991 to 1996, USA Boxing
acknowledged Thursday.
"It's a big hit to us--it's huge," said Kurt Stenerson, a spokesman for USA Boxing, which underwent an executive
overhaul this year. (Kurt Stenerson was the asshole who told the team not to talk to me, idiot.)
According to the audit, disclosed when USA Boxing notified its board of governors about the situation, USA Boxing
habitually billed the USOC for expenses already paid by sponsors and kept profits from events.
Stenerson said that USA Boxing had a total budget of $2.8 million for the 1995-96 fiscal year, and that the board of
governors would discuss the situation at its next meeting, Sept. 18-21 in Houston. The audit is still not finished.
Three weeks ago, the USOC suspended funding to USA Boxing.
"We're just flabbergasted at what we are seeing and extremely concerned about our future," said USA Boxing
President Jerry Dusenberry.
USA Boxing gets tough/ Legal action planned over $2.36 million
debt
Colorado Springs Gazette - Telegraph - Colorado Springs, Colo.
Author: Mike Spence; Gazette Telegraph
Date: Sep 21, 1996
Start Page: C.1
Section: SPORTS
Text Word Count: 517
Abstract (Document Summary)
USA Boxing plans to seek legal action against any staff members or officers who had a role in the organization's
misappropriation of $2.36 million in U.S. Olympic Committee grants.
"If there is culpability, we definitely want to prosecute," said USA Boxing president Jerry Dusenberry on Friday from
Houston. "There's some benefit to that. Our insurance may kick in. We are in dire straits with the USOC over that
amount of money."
USA Boxing plans to present information to authorities for possible criminal prosecution, and will probably file civil
suits to try to regain some of the lost money, Dusenberry said.
Senator seeks answers in boxing probe
The Gazette - Colorado Springs, Colo.
Author: Mike Spence; The Gazette
Date: Apr 22, 1997
Start Page: C.1
Section: SPORTS
Text Word Count: 513
Abstract (Document Summary)
In a letter dated Monday to USOC president Bill Hybl, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wants to know if any of USA Boxing's
officials still hold positions within the boxing group or the USOC.
McCain wants to know if former executive directors Bruce Mathis or Jim Fox or former treasurer Steve Ducoff are still
serving in any official capacity with the USOC or USA Boxing.
"I commend the USOC for initiating the audit of the misappropriated funds and for seeking repayment from USA
Boxing," McCain said in his letter. "I am informed, however, that two of these individuals who allegedly were involved
in misconduct may still be in positions of authority at USA Boxing or the USOC. According to news reports describing
the systematic financial improprieties involved - occurring over a period of seven years - this is not a case of minor
management errors or a series of administrative oversights.
Cops botch checks on accused molester
Indictment of youth volunteer Jerry Dusenberry spurs more accusations
By Jim Redden
The Portland Tribune, Dec 14, 2001, Updated Oct 30, 2009
Local law enforcement agencies missed two opportunities to prevent Portland resident Jerry Dusenberry from having contact with an 8-
year-old boy he is accused of molesting.
Dusenberry, who was arrested Monday on four counts of sex abuse involving the boy, first met him in May this year as a volunteer
mentor for Portland Impact, a local nonprofit organization that serves low-income families. Dusenberry subsequently enrolled the boy in
a basketball program he ran through Portland Parks & Recreation.
In March, two months before Dusenberry met the boy, two men told Portland police that they had been molested by Dusenberry as
children more than 20 years ago.
Police said they took the report but did not open a formal investigation because the statute of limitations had passed and the alleged
victims did not say Dusenberry was currently involved in youth programs.
“They briefly described the incidents that occurred in the past and did not say anything about him being involved in parks programs or
anything like that,” said Portland police Capt. Larry Ratcliff, head of the bureau’s Family Services Division.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office also failed to inform Portland Impact that Dusenberry had a 1999 felony theft conviction in
Colorado. He was convicted of defrauding USA Boxing of more than $10,000 when he served as the Colorado-based organization’s
volunteer president from 1992 to 1996.
Suzanne Washington, the organization’s family and youth program director, said the felony conviction would have prevented Dusenberry
from becoming a mentor.
“If we discover an applicant has a felony conviction, we don’t proceed,” Washington said.
Portland Impact requires all volunteers to undergo criminal record checks conducted by the sheriff’s office.
According to sheriff’s Lt. Garr Nielson, the check revealed that Dusenberry was listed as a fugitive from Colorado. Nielson said the
employee who ran the check apparently did not investigate the listing, which was the result of an arrest warrant being issued against
Dusenberry in the theft case.
“Clearly, we weren’t doing all that we could to ensure that things were completely followed up on,” Nielson said.
The employee who conducted the check has since retired, Garr said.
Meanwhile, news of Dusenberry’s indictment has prompted at least 10 more people to step forward with additional allegations against
him, according to Sgt. Brian Schmautz, a spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau.
A Multnomah County grand jury indicted the 61-year-old Dusenberry on Monday and he pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday.
He currently is in the Multnomah County Detention Center with bail set at $1 million. His trial is tentatively set for Jan. 23.
History of youth programs
According to police, Dusenberry has had contact with thousands of children over the years. He has worked as an employee or volunteer
in numerous youth programs since 1959, in addition to USA Boxing. They include those run by Portland Parks & Recreation, Boys &
Girls Clubs of Portland, the Girl Scouts, the YWCA, the Bonneville Power Administration and the Oregon Amateur Athletic Union
Association.
Police began investigating other possible victims Ñ including a 10-year-old boy Ñ even before Dusenberry was indicted on the abuse
charges, according to Schmautz.
“We have identified additional individuals who may have had contact of a criminal nature with Dusenberry,” Schmautz said. “In addition,
10 people have called with additional information since he was indicted. All of the possible cases are being investigated.”
Portland police also have served search warrants on Dusenberry’s Southeast Portland home and his computer at the Bonneville Power
Administration, where he works as an administrator.
The search of his home turned up evidence of sexual contacts with children, including personal journals, according to Ratcliff.
“We are operating on the assumption this is not his first time,” he said.
Dusenberry was asked to leave Portland Impact in October because he wanted to work with the boy outside the classroom, according
to Andy Nelson, the program’s development director. Portland Impact does not allow mentors to meet with children outside of
supervised settings.
Dusenberry continued his relationship with the boy by enrolling him in a basketball program he was running as a volunteer for Portland
Parks & Recreation.
According to police, Dusenberry took the boy to his home on several occasions, where he molested him. The boy told his mother about
the incidents, and she reported the allegations to the police on Nov. 29.
The boy was interviewed, and Dusenberry was arrested the next day. His home and work computer were searched on Dec. 3, and he
was indicted one week later.
Boxing scandal
Dusenberry is best known within the local sports community for his 30-year involvement with amateur boxing. He served as a local
coach and referee before volunteering with USA Boxing, the national amateur boxing organization that fields America’s Olympic boxing
teams.
Dusenberry worked his way up the ranks of the organization’s directors until serving as president from 1992 to 1996. Among other
things, he developed the computerized scoring system intended to eliminate cheating by judges to favor their country’s boxers.
USA Boxing is based in Colorado Springs, Colo., which is located in El Paso County. Dusenberry continued to live in Portland while
serving as president.
El Paso County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Zook said Dusenberry supposedly used the more than $10,000 to reimburse a
secretary he claimed to have hired in Portland to handle his paperwork. Zook said there was no secretary, however, and Dusenberry
merely pocketed the money.
“He filed phony reimbursement claims to compensate himself for paying for the secretary,” Zook said.
Other USA Boxing officials eventually grew suspicious of the arrangement and brought the matter to the district attorney’s office.
Dusenberry pleaded guilty to felony theft charges on July 21, 1999. He was given a three-year suspended sentence on the condition that
he reimburse USA Boxing in the amount of $10,778, perform 250 hours of community service and not commit any other crimes.
Told of the Portland indictment, Zook said, “Sounds like he violated the terms of his probation and should be sentenced on the theft
charges.”
Police received earlier reports
Charles Jordan, director of Portland Parks & Recreation, said that from employees’ reactions, “this guy was the ideal volunteer, worked
with parents very well and was very dedicated to what he was doing,” he said. “You never would have suspected this based on his
performance.”
Jordan said the parks bureau is now reexamining the way it screens the background of its volunteers. The bureau currently runs
background checks through a system called Commercial Information Systems Inc., which is used by many local nonprofits, he said.
“This guy was able to fly under the radar of some 30 years of a lot of well-established agencies,” he said. “What we’re doing is what I
would surmise all of our other strategic partners are doing is taking a look at our processes and seeing how we can change things.”
Portland Mayor Vera Katz said the city’s child abuse investigators do not have the time to respond to all the complaints they receive.
“They are overwhelmed by complaints and are lucky to be able to investigate those that allege ongoing abuse,” she said.
The police bureau’s Family Services Division investigates all child abuse and domestic violence reports in Multnomah County. Child
abuse complaints are investigated by a 10-member team that includes eight Portland police officers, a Multnomah County sheriff’s
deputy and a Gresham police officer.
Anyone who has information about Dusenberry is urged to call the police referral line, 503-823-4636.
I remember sitting in the hotel room at around 3am having to answer questions. They asked me why I wasn't
going to fight. My answer, to them, was, "Cause I don't want to". After being in a training camp in Germany for close to
a month and treated like a bunch local boxing scrubs by USA Boxing I felt it was my way to let them know that we were
unsatisfied with the training camp. The first issue I had with them was the per diem. There wasn't any. Why? There
wasn't any money available. That alone to ME spoke volumes. It wasn't that there wasn't any money available for per
diem. There just wasn't any money for US........as boxers. (At the time this mindset was wrong. I was acting like a
spoiled little brat to in their eyes. As you scroll down and read some of the newspaper archives I've included here,
you'll see I was 100% correct) Aren't the boxers the ones who are in the ring representing Team USA while the rest of
"you" are sitting on your ass hoping for Medals?
Although there wasn't money for us there was enough money to fly most of the board of directors out to
Germany along with a few "special guests". The other red flag was when we were told we were going to "spar" against
the German team. When we arrived for this so called sparring they had set up like an actual fight. Although we (the
boxers) agreed not to fight we ended up fighting anyway. Why? They offered us 150-200 dollars per boxer to go on
with the "sparring". Being that we were all broke, we had to go through it. The coaches also received a few dollars. I
remember telling one of the coaches it was a bad idea to be sparring against someone in our own weight class. He
said he'd make sure it wouldn't happen. They told me Oktay had moved up to 156 and Marco Rudolph (who holds a
victory over Oscar De La Hoya & lost to him in the finals of the 92 Olympics) had moved up to 139. Diego Corrales (or
Floyd Mayweather) ended up sparring Marco, i "sparred" Oktay.
We were also forced to spar with our own personal bag gloves cause our equipment wasn't sent out to Germany
like it was supposed to.
After my decision I was interviewed by some of the media and it was then I expressed some of my feelings on the
current board of USA Boxing. I bascially told them I didn't want to represent a bunch of crooks.
The following morning I remember Diego coming into my room to tell me the team just had a meeting. I asked why
he didn't wake me up. He said they asked him not to. The meeting was about me. I'll never know exactly what was said
in the meeting but according to him they were told (by the coaches) not to talk to me for the remainder of the trip. This
is when my routine started. They team would leave to the venue and I'd leave with a few friends I had met in Germany.
This went on for the remainder of the trip. I made some good friends and was able to enjoy my stay in Germany.
When i accused USA Boxing of being a bunch of crooks they called me crazy. They said i was "wrong". A year
after I made my accusations I was proven correct. Below you will find FACTS. You will find archived newspaper
clippings to show you exactly why you should stand up for things you believe in no matter what others tell you. If you
believe in something, stand up for it. This was my last amateur fight. My career as an amateur ended with a DQ. The
96' US Olympian went on to be David Diaz. A boxer I had beaten twice. Once in 1991 and again in the finals of the US
Championships in 1995. Oktay Urkal went on to win the Silver Medal in the 96' Olympics. The decision to stand up for
what I believed in might have cost me a trip to the Olympics but until this day.........its one of the BEST decisions I have
EVER made. Stood up ........ for what I knew in my heart was right.