Exclusive: For the past several decades, Mike Spiller has worked with youths around the...
Anne Elrod Whitney had only recently joined a girls gymnastics team at Rowland’s Northwest when she was invited to attend a team sleepover at the gym’s building in northwest Houston. It was 1983. She was 10.The sleepover had the atmosphere of a school lock-in with loosely organized games, sleeping bags splayed across the floor and pizza ordered in for dinner. Kids played on the gym equipment normally reserved for rigorous instruction.
For the past several decades, Spiller, who refers to himself in promotional materials as the “Doctor of Fun” and “Texas Games Guru,” has worked with youth organizations and schools in Central America, the United Kingdom and Africa as well as the United States. In Texas, he has interacted with thousands of children at games workshops and summer circus camps across the state.
In addition to Whitney and Perry, the Chronicle is aware of at least one other person who alleges Spiller abused her.Whitney and Perry are both participating in the investigation with SafeSport, an independent center which was created in 2017 after the scandal involving USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar revealed widespread abuse within the sport.
The harshest punishment SafeSport can impose after an investigation is complete is a permanent ban from participation in the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic movements. Because SafeSport does not have criminal jurisdiction, however, temporary or final sanctions it imposes apply only to programs under the U.S. Olympic or Paralympic umbrella. Barring interference from law enforcement, Spiller can still interact with children at his own private camps.
“I believe my daughter 100 percent,” Perry says. “And even if it was a misunderstanding, I still would have reacted the same way with my complaint, my concern in removing her while that coach was in the gym. But after the way the gym handled it, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that my daughter's not safe there.
Perry also came across a blog post Whitney wrote about Spiller’s abuse in the 1980s. That made Perry even more determined to cooperate with investigators and help to get justice for her daughter.
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