SOUTH BEND — Three former St. Joseph High School volleyball players have filed a lawsuit against the school, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend and school officials, accusing their coach of abusive sexual misconduct and administrators of failing to appropriately respond to their allegations during that misconduct.
The women, who graduated in 2018 and 2019 and are suing anonymously as Jane Doe plaintiffs, provide detailed accusations in their court filing.
The lawsuit claims Justin Cochran, 32, sent one of the players pictures of his genitals over the social media platform SnapChat. SnapChat messages disappear after a short time. Jane Doe 3 claims Cochran included explicit details of his sexual escapades and the size of his penis in the message containing the nude photo.
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Jane Doe 3 claims she was afraid and unsure what to do, so she blocked Cochran on SnapChat and told two other players what had happened. She claims before sending the illicit message, Cochran had made sexual comments about St. Joseph players, including sexual references to their legs and breasts.
The lawsuit claims some players were concerned as early as the July 2018 promotion of Cochran from assistant coach to head coach, because they feared not making the team if Cochran found them unattractive and feared not receiving playing time if they were not receptive to his flirtatious behavior begun during his time as assistant coach.