Olympic Taekwondo Legends Accused of Raping Dozen Victims
Three-time Olympic Medalist Steven Lopez and his brother, veteran coach Jean Lopez, are accused of drugging and raping dozens of women.
Multiple women first came forward and spoke of the incident in 2017, saying the pair had assaulted them.
Audrey-Ann Le Blanc
Audrey-Ann LeBlanc, a Canadian taekwondo athlete and one of the accusers, came forward Saturday in an article published by The Daily Beast.
LeBlanc, along with Steven, recalled being picked up by an athlete named David Montalvo from the airport before being dropped off at a Dallas hotel in May 2010.
LeBlanc said she and Steven spent time in a hotel room where she took a few sips from a blueberry-Gatorade-vodka mix minutes before she started to feel ill. She claims Steven led her to another hotel room where two of his friends were. Steven began to kiss her and pushed her to the bed.
Audrey-Ann said she couldn't move her hands or her body by that time.
She remembered Steven raping her vaginally while another man tried to put his penis into her mouth. She also remembered seeing the third man at the corner of the room.
Audrey-Ann LeBlanc woke up in her own hotel room the next afternoon with no pants on and a terrible headache.
David Montalvo recalls receiving a call from Steven telling him to pick up LeBlanc. He recalled seeing LeBlanc standing on the street, seemingly confused.
Both Montalvo and LeBlanc confirmed he was not involved in the raping incident.
Mandy Meloon
Meloon remembers her first encounter with Jean in 1995 at the Olympic training center in Colorado. Meloon was only 13 and Jean was 21.
She claims he has asked whether she was a virgin and had given her a photograph of himself wearing only a towel and nothing else.
Two years later, at the World Championships in Cairo, Meloon said Jean entered her hotel room in the middle of the night, pulled down her bottoms, and inserted his finger into her vagina.
Lopez allegedly pulled her aside and said he was drunk the night before. Meloon took it as an appeal for her to stay quiet about the incident.
Heidi Gilbert
Gilbert was a friend and teammate of Kay Poe, another accuser. In her lawsuit, she said Jean Lopez drugged her and attempted to sexually assault her at the 2003 World Championships in Germany.
Gilbert gave up her Olympic dreams and relocated to California.
Nina Zampetti
In 2000, Nina was 14 years old when Steven, then 23, allegedly lured her to his bedroom in Sugar Land and had her perform oral sex on him.
Zampetti said she confided the incident to Lopez's younger sibling Diana.
In 2018, she filed a report, but it was too late to pursue criminal charges.
Kay Poe
Kay Poe was the youngest ever member of the US National Taekwondo Team at age 14. In her lawsuit, she says she and Jean had sexual intercourse at a tournament in 1999 when she was 17 and he was 26.
She also recalled a plane ride later that year where Jean coerced her into giving him a handjob on the plane.
In 2002, Poe claims Jean pinned her to the floor and dry humped her until he ejaculated when she helped him to his room after he became too drunk.
Amber Means
Amber Means was a former member of the junior USA Taekwondo team, joined the brothers' training studio when she was 13-years-old.
She was 18 when she accepted Steven's invitation to a get-together at his friend's condo where the gruesome incident allegedly took place.
Means said she blacked out after a few sips from a drink Lopez handed her.
Means confronted the taekwondo star about the incident to which he said they had sexual intercourse in the condo before he left, only to find the owner of the unit having sex with Amber when he returned.
Lawyers have identified more than two dozen women who allege they were also victimized by the brothers.
The cases against Jean have been dismissed by the court. Steven's cases are proceeding on allegations that his actions violated federal law.
USA Taekwondo and the US Olympic Committee were also sued for failing to protect the victims. The claims against the Olympic committee were dismissed by Federal Judge Christine Arguello, while the case against USA Taekwondo is ongoing.
Steven and Jean Lopez both denied involvement in the allegations. "If you can only imagine what it is like being accused of such heinous things," Steven told KRIV last year.
In late 2019, a federal grand jury was tasked to investigate the handling of the allegations by the US Olympic Committee.
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