A former member of the University of Virginia swim team has filed a lawsuit against five of his former teammates for incidents including hazing, false imprisonment, and assault that occurred last fall.
Anthony Marcatonio’s suit, filed in federal court on June 26, alleges that in the late night/early morning of August 27/28, Marcantonio and other first-year members of the swim team were summoned to a house on Wertland Street known as the “Swim House.” The underclassmen were subjected to false imprisonment, forced drinking of alcohol and other beverages, verbal abuse, forced sexual contact, and intimidation strategies, including the threat of forced sodomy.
The suit was filed against Kyle Dudzinski, Luke Papendick, Charles Rommel, David Ingraham, and Jacob Pearce, all upperclassmen Virginia swim team members at the time of the alleged events.
After head coach Augie Busch decided that Marcantonio’s “physical safety could not be guaranteed” on September 15, Marcantonio was forced to swim when other members of the team were not present, according to the suit. Unable to maintain his regular swimming routine, Marcantonio was forced to transfer and nullify his contract with the university.
Marcantonio is suing the four seniors and one junior for assault, battery, false imprisonment, hazing, tortuous interference with a contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and two counts of conspiracy to commit those acts. He’s also seeking punitive damages, the amounts of which would be decided at trial.
Marcantonio now swims for Northwestern University, according to The Daily Progress.