Audit of fired SafeSport investigator leads to reopening of 3 out of 114 cases

FILE - Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R- Iowa, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

DENVER (AP) — An external audit of 114 cases handled by a former U.S. Center for SafeSport investigator accused of sex crimes he allegedly committed at his previous job led to the watchdog agency’s reopening of three of those cases.

The audit, results of which the center released Monday, also found that while former Pennsylvania police officer Jason Krasley largely acted professionally with people he interviewed while working for SafeSport, some said he “utilized an informal interview style that felt ‘overly familiar.'”

“The audit revealed instances in which Krasley failed to establish appropriate professional boundaries,” Aleta Law wrote in a 17-page report that took 11 months and included interviews with 12 people involved in cases Krasley handled.

Krasley’s ability to land a job at the agency Congress created to combat sex abuse in American sports led to a series of pointed letters from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asking about the process that led to the investigator’s hiring.

Grassley’s office did not immediately respond to an Associated Press email about the audit, part of which detailed Krasley’s communication “with parties outside of business hours, in an overly familiar manner, and about topics unrelated to their cases.”

These was some of the same feedback AP received during its reporting on the Krasley case from people who dealt with the former cop.

The center commissioned the audit in response to its November 2024 firing of Krasley, after his arrest for allegedly stealing drug money seized in a raid he was involved in with the police department in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Not until an AP story about Krasley did the information about his background and his connection to the Denver-based SafeSport Center become public.

In January 2025, Krasley was arrested for rape, sexual assault and involuntary sexual servitude for alleged incidents that occurred during his time as an officer from 2011-18. Krasley has denied the allegations.

In February 2025, the center hired Aleta for the audit of his cases.

The center, which ousted CEO Ju’Riese Colon in April as headlines about the Krasley case were swirling, rewrote and strengthened many of its hiring policies in the wake of the Krasley scandal.

Another part of the center’s response was to call for the outside report. The center provided the firm with full access to all 114 cases Krasley handled. Aleta Law reached out to people Krasley dealt with during his investigations. Though that only netted 12 interviews, the firm said people could reach out to the center directly to discuss results from the audit and whether it should be re-opened to evaluate their cases.

In addition to the three cases the center sent to a separate external firm to reopen, it said in its summary of the audit that it identified two other matters requiring further investigation “based on new information obtained outside the scope of the audit.”

Aleta Law also offered 12 recommendations for changes in policy, many of which the center started over the past 18 months in response to feedback about its operation.

Among Aleta’s recommendations were investigators avoiding the use of unrecorded phone calls to conduct substantive interviews of parties and witnesses.

People who dealt with Krasley told AP that some conversations would last hours and veer into topics like family and friends that had nothing to do with the case.

SafeSport also hired The Assist (formerly Army of Survivors) to help with outreach to people who had contact with Krasley, and that group offered recommendations, as well.

Among them was establishing clear boundaries for investigators, including making sure “private and informal mechanisms are not used.”

“Not having concrete boundaries in place erodes essential ethical boundaries associated with investigations and can lead to grooming (which is the deliberate and deceptive process used by persons who cause harm to build trust and an emotional connection with another person),” the recommendation said.

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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports