Such is the July 2020 case, which has been widely reported on recently, wherein a female employee of the Provo Rec Center was sexually assaulted and raped. The employee worked as an indoor pool lifeguard.

Since the woman’s story hit newsstands last week, a handful of male and female lifeguards along with the woman’s former associates have come forward to give their stories, particularly about harassment in the workplace.

A male lifeguard, who was a supervisor at the pool, stepped forward to say that while both female and male employees receive various levels and types of harassment, it is the females who take the brunt of the unwanted attention.

He noted that there is always the aspect of unwanted attention and, as a male, he never felt in danger or threatened even though he knows of several females who have been on the receiving end of the unwanted attention. He added that they have felt threatened.

According to Erika Larsen, lead attorney on the rape case, the witnesses coming forward are on record stating that they are not surprised the assault occurred. Due to the amount of sexual harassment they witnessed while working as lifeguards for the city, they agree that it was only a matter of time before something serious happened.

A female lifeguard working at the same time as the victim of the rape stated that sexual harassment was considered to be “part of the job,” and she was told if she didn’t like the attention, she should wear shorts. She reported that it was happening to practically all of the female lifeguards.

Since the assault, new policies and protocols have been put in place, according to the male supervisor.

“Before the situation, there weren’t many policies to prevent harassment,” he said “Now the policy is female guards need to wear shorts on top of their bathing suit. It felt like they were putting a Band Aid on it and shifting the [blame] to the girls.”

In early 2021, estimated to be February or March, the Rec Center adopted a new professional dress code for all employees. All were to wear shorts and tops that look the same, according to Scott Henderson, the director of Parks and Recreation.

Henderson noted that the change was not because of the assault incident, but the need to have a professional appearance.

The Rec Center was built eight years ago. At the time, the policies and procedures were re-done according to Cathy Smith, aquatics facility manager. They have been in place since the center’s opening.

“We are thorough with our sexual harassment training,” Smith said

Smith nor Henderson know of any ignoring of staff members at the Rec Center. “They are trained thoroughly to call the police whether an incident is major or minor,” Smith said.

Surprisingly, while protocols exist for reporting and helping patrons who have been harassed while attending the pool, no policies are known for employees subjected to the same harassment — other than to report the harassment to their supervisor, according to Larsen.

The general assumption was that supervisors would take care of harassment allegations by asking the offending patron, or patrons, to leave or officially report the offense. Unfortunately, none of the witnesses ever knew of any supervisor resolving complaints when guards reported being sexually harassed, according to Larsen.

“This could have easily been prevented if the Rec Center and Provo city would have done something,” the accuser wrote in a statement. “I hope no one goes through what I went through.”

“My attacker was with three boys who all looked like they were younger than 12. They left with him, he played with them in the water, and at one point one of them was riding on his back,” the victim writes. “Kids younger than 12 aren’t allowed in the hot tub area, so that was the only time in the rec center building that I noticed his kids weren’t with him. That was when he came up to me said that he was fantasizing about me.”

According to the woman, the kids had the same hair color and skin color as her attacker. She believed the way he was interacting with them seemed like he was not an uncle or a friend, but a dad.

Later that night, the man approached her in the employee parking lot on the north end of the building, called her by name and then allegedly forced her into the back seat of her car and raped her. He left by telling her thank you, according to details given by the woman.

The male witness noted that one of the other policies implemented after the assault was that employees closing the center must go in pairs to the employee parking lot, and it is up to the supervisor to enforce that.

The victim has indicated the parking lot was dimly lit, something Henderson disagrees with.

“The lighting has not been changed,” Henderson said. “But it is not dimly lit. The lighting standards are consistent with construction and safety codes.”

Whether it’s a female lifeguard or a student or just someone on the street, “Our client reports feeling very uneasy that someone like this is out in our community, not knowing when or if she or some other potential victim will run into him,” Larsen said.

She would like to see him caught so that he does not continue perpetrating sexual violence.

“I am astounded that so many people knew that this was a problem and instead of Provo City taking the problem seriously, rec center management basically continued to foster an environment of harassment and potential abuse,” Larsen said. “To hear other employees believed it was ‘only a matter of time,’ before something like this happened is heart-wrenching.”