ENMU basketball players file lawsuit

Three former athletes on the women’s basketball team at Eastern New Mexico University contend in a new federal civil rights lawsuit that their coach repeatedly coerced them to submit to “treatments” by her volunteer trainer husband, who sexually assaulted them.

While complaints to ENMU athletics director Paul Weir allegedly went ignored for more than a year, two school trainers realized the women had been assaulted and finally reported the abuse to the university’s human resources department, states the 30-page lawsuit filed by the women, who have since transferred from the school.

The women, who are referred to as Jane Doe 1, 2 and 3, sued then-women’s basketball coach Meghan de los Reyes; her husband, Glen de los Reyes; his company, Glen’s Fitness Lab; the Eastern New Mexico University’s Board of Regents and Weir, who was hired in 2021 as athletics director.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday, two days after the university released a statement to The Eastern New Mexico News that an investigation into the ENMU basketball program resulted in “no findings of an abusive nature.”

University officials have repeatedly declined to comment beyond Tuesday’s statement and another issued Friday afternoon. It said the university “is in the process of carefully reviewing the allegations made in that lawsuit” and “actions are being taken in conjunction with our attorneys to properly address the allegations in appropriate court proceedings and not engage in this matter outside of that proper forum.”

Friday’s statement also said ENMU “will continue to strive toward providing a safe learning environment for its students, faculty, and staff.”

ENMU parted ways with Meghan de los Reyes earlier this month, after what the university said was a “complete review of the entire program.”

The statement ENMU released on Tuesday read:

“On March 8, ENMU completed a non-athletic department led investigation into complaints within the women’s basketball program and the use of volunteer services. There were no findings of an abusive nature nor that any ENMU employee forced student-athletes to seek volunteer services.

“We did identify opportunities to improve training practices and internal policies with regards to volunteers and volunteer services.

“Upon receiving the initial complaint on this matter, ENMU instructed the volunteer to cease any continued services with student-athletes. During the investigation the student-athletes were given contact information for various resources including law enforcement.

“On April 18, ENMU announced a change in leadership for the women’s basketball program based on a complete review of the entire program. As this may turn into a legal matter, this will be our only comment on the situation.”

Weir declined additional comment Tuesday and again on Friday.

The De los Reyes couple did not responded to repeated requests for comment.

District Attorney Quentin Ray said Friday he spoke with police officials at the university and city of Portales and neither has received a criminal complaint related to the allegations made in the lawsuit.

Ray said his office is not investigating the allegations though he did request a copy of the civil lawsuit on Friday.

‘Treatment’ from unlicensed trainer

The lawsuit contends the three players were recruited from out of state and received scholarships to play women’s basketball at ENMU in August 2022, and to remain on scholarship, “had to stay in Coach De Los Reyes’ good graces.” She had been hired as head women’s basketball coach a month earlier, after serving as assistant women’s basketball coach at California State University in Chico, Calif.

At a mandatory dinner in August 2022, the lawsuit states, the coach told the entire team they should see her husband, who was an unlicensed trainer, for “treatments” whenever possible if they wished to demonstrate their commitment to physical fitness and the team. She allegedly instructed players to go into a back room in their home to be treated by him, one by one, “even if they were uninjured.”

One of the three women who filed suit contends she was assaulted that evening when Glen de los Reyes rubbed her vagina and breasts, the lawsuit alleges, and when she told him to stop he continued rubbing her groin, “saying he needed to ‘finish the treatment.’”

The lawsuit said the coach was informed about the allegations but protected her husband, specifically instructing her players to never admit to other ENMU trainers that they had received treatments from him and if asked, to lie.

The woman reported her experience to ENMU athletics trainers, but ENMU took no action, the lawsuit alleges. After she refused further treatments from Glen de los Reyes, the lawsuit alleges the coach retaliated against her, docking her playing time and “treating her as an outcast from the team.” The two other women reported similar assaults, the lawsuit states, and faced retaliation by their coach as a result.

“Coach De Los Reyes’ threats were not idle or meaningless, as student athletes, Plaintiffs’ careers were dependent entirely on their performance on the basketball court, and lack of playing time would doom their future careers,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit contends that ENMU officials including Weir knew that other ENMU student athletes had accused Glen de los Reyes of sexual assault in the 2021-2022 school year but continued to permit him to “treat” student athletes like the three women.

In October 2022, Weir and other ENMU athletics officials and trainers confronted the de los Reyes couple at a meeting about the allegations of sexual assault and the so-called “treatments.”

According to the lawsuit, Glen de los Reyes denied any wrongdoing at this meeting yet said “he had secretly filmed his sessions with all students.”

It’s unclear whether any video was included in the university’s investigation of the program this year.

“As is typical with sexual predators, Glen de los Reyes had a pattern of behavior and a common course of conduct that he exhibited towards all his victims: he targeted first year and transfer students who lacked knowledge of the ENMU community and Portales and who also lacked support systems on campus,” the lawsuit alleges.

After their assaults, the lawsuit states, two of the women saw athletic trainers at the university who noticed their extensive bruising on their upper thighs and asked them if they had seen Glen de los Reyes. Even though players both shook their heads, the trainers reported the alleged assaults to Weir.

The lawsuit does not name the athletic trainers.

‘At least we aren’t like (NMSU)’

By February of this year, ENMU began its investigation into the alleged abuse but “took minimal action” to protect the women from their coach or her husband, the lawsuit states. Though the trainer was banned from campus, he allegedly continued texting the three women and offered his “treatments” at his home, the lawsuit stated.

The complaint alleges that on or around Feb. 13, Weir called the three players into his office “under the pretense of inquiring into their wellbeing.” Instead, it states, he said he did “not want to make things awkward” for Meghan or Glen de los Reyes, said he was “sorry” for what had happened to the players and then added “at least we aren’t like (New Mexico State University).” Weir was head and assistant mens’ basketball coach at NMSU from 2007 to 2017.

While the lawsuit suggests that was in reference to NMSU men’s basketball team having a player involved in a deadly shooting on the UNM campus in November 2022, the meeting with the women occurred just days after an NMSU basketball player filed a police report alleging hazing on the men’s basketball team.

That report led to the rest of the 2022-23 men’s basketball season being canceled by the university on Feb. 12, head coach Greg Heiar being fired and, just this month, a lawsuit being filed by two NMSU players alleging they were sexually assaulted by teammates.

The lawsuit regarding ENMU contends that because of the defendants’ actions, the three women have been “forced to leave campus, finish the Spring 2023 semester remotely, and transfer to new schools. Their academic, athletic, and professional careers have been irreparably harmed.”

The plaintiffs ask for unspecified damages to compensate them for personal injury, mental anguish and distress, lost wages and earning capacity, attorney fees and more.

David Stevens of The Eastern New Mexico News contributed to this report.