Boarding School for Elite Athletes Sued, Accused of Fostering a ‘Lord of the Flies’ Environment

IMG Academy — an elite boarding school that once housed athletes such as tennis legend Maria Sharapova and NFL quarterback J.J. McCarthy — is being sued by two former students who claim they were sexually assaulted on campus.

The unidentified former students, one with dreams of a future in lacrosse, accused an older teammate at the Bradenton, Florida, school of sexual assault in 2021.

The allegations were followed by a criminal investigation that led to then-19-year-old Patrick Guinee Jr.‘s arrest on two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a minor. He eventually accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to nearly a year in jail.

In a recently filed civil lawsuit against the school and the convicted former student, the victims claimed IMG Academy “failed to protect” them, according to a report from the Tampa Bay Times published on Tuesday, July 7.

“It was a ‘Lord of the Flies’ type of environment,” the unnamed lacrosse player, who was 15 when he got to the school, told The Tampa Bay Times. “Anything could happen. It didn’t feel like there was oversight at all.”

According to the victim, students were often left without adult supervision, children as young as 13 were forced to share residence halls with students as old as 20. Drugs such as LSD, MDMA, and marijuana were often present, he alleged in the lawsuit.

“It became obvious to all residents that no one was actually monitoring the dormitory or reviewing the camera footage,” the complaint read, per Tampa Bay Times. “The children quickly learned that they were effectively free to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.”

IMG Academy Spokesperson Mike Lovecchio claimed in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times, “IMG Academy’s commitment to providing a safe, structured, and supportive environment for everyone in our community is evident in the comprehensive, rigorous safeguards we have in place to ensure our student-athletes’ physical and mental wellbeing.”

He went on to call the alleged sexual assault an “isolated student-on-student incident.”

“Upon learning of the incident, IMG Academy took swift, decisive action that resulted in the student-athlete’s permanent removal, engaged local law enforcement and informed parents and the broader school community,” Lovecchio added.

A hearing scheduled for August will determine whether the case will be moved to arbitration.