A player formerly on a Los Angeles private school’s water polo team is accused of sexually assaulting a younger teammate and using racial slurs against him while still at the school.
The accused was identified as Lucca van der Woude and the victim as Aidan Romain, who was 14 when he joined the team, KTLA reported Wednesday.
Now, a lawsuit has been filed in the case, which also claimed coaches and administrators at Harvard-Westlake High School were notified about the alleged behavior but failed to act.
Romain, who is now 18 years old, was also involved with the USA Water Polo’s national team development program, the outlet stated.
It reported:
The suit alleges that starting with Romain’s first practice at one of L.A.’s most elite private schools in August 2022, he was digitally penetrated by teammate Lucca van der Woude, an older player who at the time was widely thought of as a top Olympic prospect in American water polo, the Orange County Register reported.
The sexual assaults, according to the complaint, regularly occurred along with Romain being called the N-word on a daily basis through February 2024.
Romain, who is living in Spain, told ABC 7:
It was very difficult on a daily basis to deal with the racial abuse and the sexual abuse. The racial abuse and sexual abuse was a daily basis thing. It happened in nearly every training; it would happen many times daily, sometimes outside of the pool. So, it was certainly a difficult experience.
Van der woude was reportedly previously convicted of sexually assaulting another teammate, and admitted in late 2024 while in juvenile court to sexual penetration of a minor with a foreign object, according to the New York Post.
The article said he was ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution and complete probation under a plea deal. The outlet also said the young man was arrested on the school’s campus in early 2024 after another parent alleged their son was also targeted.
Per the KTLA report, Romain’s mother said she met with the school’s Coach Jack Grover twice about her concerns and he reassured her he would keep watch over her son.
In a statement to the outlet, the school said, “Harvard-Westlake will not offer specific comment other than to say that it unequivocally disputes many of these allegations that mischaracterize facts and the school’s actions.”
“The school treated reports of inappropriate behavior in its water polo program with urgency and seriousness, promptly initiating an investigation and complying with its mandatory reporting obligations,” the statement said. “The school also cooperated completely with law enforcement.”
Citing the Daily Mail, the New York Post notes that van der Woude “is the son of longtime film assistant director Thomas ‘Basti’ van der Woude.” The Post says “Basti,” as he is known professionally, “has worked on dozens of major productions over the past three decades including Fast & Furious 5, Thor: The Dark World, Battleship, and the AMC television series Fear the Walking Dead.”