CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
By Gustavo Arellano Tue., Dec. 17 2013
Last week, we reported that Mario Soto, a forward on Mater Dei High’s boys basketball team, was leaving the school for reasons unknown. Today, we know why he left: bullying by former and current teammates, including allegations of physical assaults and that they called him “bitch” and “nigger”–never mind that Soto is half-Puerto Rican and half-Indian.
And lest petty Mater Dei fans skewer Soto by claiming he’s making up excuses for not being able to hack it it under coach Gary Mcknight (never mind that Soto was a returning starter who had been a co-captain since his sophomore year), the senior is serious about his claims. He has retained the counsel of John Manly, the legendary Newport Beach lawyer who has sued his alma mater many times for its pedophilically inclined employees and is a wrecking ball of righteousness.
Last Friday, Manly sent a letter to Diocese of Orange general counsel Maria Schinderle stating he would represent Soto and his family and described a “3-year saga at Mater Dei where [Soto] was bullied, harassed, intimidated, physically assaulted, and perhaps worse, routinely called a ‘nigger.'” Named in the claim were Orange Bishop Kevin Vann, McKnight and his son, Clay (an assistant coach), and Mater Dei president Pat Murphy. Sources tell the Weekly that the bullying was brought to the attention of Mater Dei officials to no avail, which wouldn’t be the first time they ignored warnings that something was amiss in McKnight’s program.
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