Juan Dixon, the current head coach of basketball for Coppin State University and partner of “Real Housewives of Potomac” star Robyn Dixon, was named in a lawsuit against the university for failure to report sexual misconduct between an assistant basketball coach and a player.
According to reports, Coppin State Director of Player Development and Director of Basketball Operations Lucian Brownlee has been accused of catfishing a player named Ibn Williams online. In this scam he allegedly coerced Williams into providing intimate photos and texts, then blackmailed him into videotaping a sexual encounter before publicizing the material when the player resisted further demands for sex.
The lawsuit filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court alleges that Brownlee harassed, tormented and sexually assaulted Williams, before publishing intimate material he had obtained from the student. According to the lawsuit Williams met with Dixon to discuss the matter, but the head coach did nothing about it.
“The way he was treated was abhorrent,” said Williams’ attorney, Daniel “Donny” Epstein. “Our strong belief is that Lucian [himself] was the catfisher.”
The university, also named in the lawsuit, didn’t support Williams but instead during their investigation questioned his sexual history and ultimately withdrew previously promised financial assistance.
The details alleged in the lawsuit are shocking and paint a picture of a premeditated plan to put Williams in a compromising position for the purpose of sexual acts and intercourse.
The suit alleges that Williams received a message on social media from a woman who wanted to engage in a romantic relationship. This online user enticed Williams to send private images of himself to her, that were sexual in nature.
Then the online user threatened to post the pictures of Williams if he didn’t send more salacious photos. He continued throughout the 2018-19 season.
In the spring of 2019 Williams learned that Brownlee, then a senior player on the team, also exchanged nude photos with this online user.
The online user demanded that Brownlee and Williams have sex and record it. Williams initially refused. But when he returned to campus in the fall, the online user/blackmailer demanded a video of Williams and Brownlee engaging in oral sex. Williams complied.
In December 2019 the requests from the online user/blackmailer continued to escalate. This time the online user/blackmailer said Brownlee was to coordinate a sexual encounter with Williams. The back and forth between Williams and the online user/blackmailer continued into March of 2020 with increasingly aggressive demands and Brownlee’s availability for an encounter.
“By information and belief, the blackmailer was coach Brownlee,” the complaint says.
Williams, allegedly distraught by the entire ordeal, which at that point had been ongoing for a year and a half, was contemplating suicide.
In the fall of 2020 when Williams returned to campus the blackmail continued but this time he didn’t respond to any of the messages. Once he failed to respond, the images and video were leaked by the blackmailer and made available to the team, staff, and public.
Dixon and Williams met the next day according to the lawsuit and Williams was told that Brownlee was mentally ill.
“Dixon admitted that Lucien [sic] Brownlee was mentally ill or otherwise emotionally imbalanced and that his history was known to the coach, [Athletic Director Derek] Carter and the school.”
This is a bad look for Coppin State and Dixon. If they knew Brownlee was mentally ill and allowed him to work with teenagers that’s extreme negligence. If they had any knowledge or if they knew of patterns of behavior that would suggest what is being alleged in the lawsuit they could be in even bigger trouble.
The school’s sexual misconduct policy prohibits rape, sodomy, quid pro quo, stalking, sexual exploitation, coercion and retaliation.
