Ohio high school wrestling coach, wife accused of sexually abused students in lawsuit

GALLIPOLIS, Ohio (WCMH) - A Columbus law firm has filed a civil lawsuit in federal court that accuses a Gallia County coach and his wife of more than a decade of sexual abuse.

"When you hear the facts of this story, it's the kind of thing you just can't ignore," said Craig Tuttle, owner of Leeseberg Tuttle, LPA law firm located in Downtown Columbus. "As someone with kids in school and soon-to-be high school, you see stuff like this and it hits you a little differently."

The lawsuit filed Monday in the Southern District Court of Ohio names Gallia County Local Schools, the Gallia County Schools Board of Education as well as administrators at River Valley High School. It alleges Matthew Huck and Michal "Paige" Huck were involved in sexual abuse of students at River Valley High School dating back to at least 2004.

"Who knew about this? Who allowed this to happen for so long? And as we dug in we learned a lot about a really terrible pattern of ignoring bad behavior, condoning bad behavior," Tuttle said. "And that's what allows something like this to go on for fifteen or more years."

The lawsuit goes into detail explaining the relationship the married couple had with members of the wrestling team, of which Matthew was coach. Paige also volunteered as a coach of the cheerleading team. According to the lawsuit, the couple would host 'lock-ins' at their home for the football team, wrestling team, and cheerleaders.

During those occasions, the lawsuit alleged Paige Huck engaged in sexual acts with multiple boys ages 15-17. The lawsuit also states Matthew Huck was aware of the sexual abuse, condoned it and sometimes watched it happen. 

Matthew Huck was an agriculture teacher and wrestling coach until placed on leave recently, while his wife Paige was a substitute teacher and cheer coach from 1999-2007.

"It's disgusting, it's repulsive, it's shocking, and some would say unbelievable," Tuttle said. "I said that when I first started looking at it. I said there's no way this is true. If half of this is true it's shocking and unbelievable. It takes a special level of indifference to allow something like this to get this far. We're talking about, from what we've heard from witnesses, probably at least two students a year for 15 years. The wrestlers, the FFA club members, that's really where the victims mostly come from on the male side. On the female side it sounds like it was mostly cheerleaders."

Leeseberg Tuttle is currently representing six clients filing lawsuits against Gallia County Schools and the board. The first filing on Monday named one victim only as John Doe 1.

Tuttle began working on the case when a fellow attorney at Abdnour Weiker, LLP brought him the details about a year ago. He said the actions by the coach and his wife along with the reports to administrators who did not take action are clear violations of Title IX protections and 1983 Civil Rights Law violations under "reckless indifference."

"Conversation after conversation with not only our clients but with former students that were around this, it was corroborated. And we learned that certain students had even taken this to administration as long ago as 2004," Tuttle said. "It seems like it was common knowledge, at least among the student body, that this stuff had been happening for years. If the adults in the room aren't going to stand up and say something, then you kind of have to wait until those that were victimized become adults themselves and realize how wrong this was."

John Doe 1 alleged in the lawsuit that he reported the sexual abuse to a football coach. The lawsuit said that the football coach then told a principal. Tuttle said at the time it happened in 2016, the principal deemed the accusations uncredible.

"Our civil claims are not only against them but more importantly against the school board, the administrators who had information that they failed to act on," Tuttle said. "Ohio law requires educators, even on a suspicion that a child is abused or may be abused, have to report that. They have a legal duty to report it, if they don't it's a crime. Something like this doesn't happen because three or four people remain quiet. It happens because dozens of people remain quiet for years."

The other five victims, four men and one woman, are taking action on events dating back to 2004. The only criminal action taken in the case dates back to 2019, according to Tuttle. That's when the Gallia County Sheriff's Office began an investigation into the claims against Paige Huck. She was indicted on six charges of sexual misconduct with a minor in August 2023.

Tuttle said even though she was under investigation for sexual misconduct with students, which led to a ban from school property, she was still present on the River Valley High School campus until as recently as this year.

"She's the wife of the wrestling coach. She attended all these wrestling events," Tuttle said. "She would be at all these wrestling meets. She would be talking to these wrestlers. She was texting these wrestlers directly one-on-one. All of these things are not supposed to be happening."

While Matthew Huck is not alleged to have physically participated in any sexual abuse, Tuttle said he is the ringleader. 

"This isn't a situation where he's participating in sexual abuse directly. But indirectly by enabling it, facilitating it, encouraging it, and endorsing it. And then obviously keeping it quiet. He, too, has a duty as an educator to report potential abuse of his students and obviously, that wasn't going to happen," Tuttle said.

The attorney noted this is just the beginning of the process for his clients and believes more will come forward. Unfortunately, in the many situations Tuttle has dealt with involving sexual abuse, he said it's typically an authority figure.

"When you talk about someone who's been the victim of sexual abuse it's usually that power dynamic. Whether it's a family member, a teacher, a pastor, whatever the case may be there's an authority figure relationship where you feel compelled to not only participate as the younger victim but also the obligation to keep it quiet," he said.

Current Gallia County Local School Superintendent Phillip Kuhn released a statement regarding the situation on the district's website. It reads:

"It should be noted that this person is not an employee of the District and has not worked in the District since 2007. It is the District’s understanding that any allegations brought to the District’s attention in the past were reported to the proper authorities and handled appropriately. However, given the prosecutor's decision to indict this person and because of her previous affiliation, through her former husband, with our extracurricular programs, and out of an abundance of caution, we have placed him on administrative leave pending the outcome of this matter ... the District has no reason to believe that any current students are involved in the charges filed against this former employee."

Phillip Kuhn, Superintendent

Tuttle plans to file the next suit on behalf of the second victim on Monday after Thanksgiving. He hopes to not only bring awareness to the issue but help save other kids from experiencing similar abuse in the future.

"This isn't ok. Number one, it needs to stop. Number two, and for anyone else out there, other school districts, take these reports seriously," Tuttle said. "You cannot continue to say, that's a student. That's a fifteen-year-old. They're not credible. We're going to believe our employee. You have to report it and let the proper authorities investigate."