By John Rizzuti
©2006 InsideTexasWrestling.com
All rights reserved

InsideTexasWrestling.com (ITW) has learned that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), based on information originally supplied by Texas law enforcement and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), is investigating the possible sexual assault and kidnapping of two female Texas USA Wrestling Team Texas members that occurred last year on a bus ride from Fargo, North Dakota to Texas.

The Team Texas group was returning from competing at the National Junior Women’s Championships, held in Fargo on July 29-30, 2005. Eleven Texas females earned All-American honors during that competition.

According to FBI documents examined by ITW and affidavits used to obtain a search warrant, a member of the coaching staff allegedly committed repeated assaults, beginning a few hours after the bus left Fargo and continuing most all the way back to Texas. According to the FBI affidavit, the team left Fargo shortly after 6:00pm on July 30, 2005. Sitting on the bus were two female team members with the suspect coach sitting between them.

The coach is identified as Timothy Daniel Morriss, 42, of Weir, Texas who owns and operates the Rock Wrestling Club in Leander, and was at the time serving as an assistant coach for Team Texas. Since both females are under the age of 18, their identities and all information about them have been omitted from all documents.

Various law enforcement officials interviewed the female wrestlers who were purportedly assaulted. According to the FBI affidavit, Morris “touched them and rubbed their bodies at different times throughout the night.” Prior to the alleged action, Morriss had draped the two females with a sleeping bag to shield his activities from view.

According to the affidavit, the first victim moved to another seat following the assault on her. The other victim was then “crammed in her bus seat between Morriss and the window” and he “began stroking her and massaging her body parts.”

The rest of the affidavit is too excessively graphic to print on ITW, but the alleged actions of Morriss fall under the category of sexual assault. The assaults left enough DNA evidence to allow comparison with Morriss’ DNA.

ITW has also learned that a Federal Grand Jury will convene this week to hear charges against Morriss.

In March, a search warrant was executed upon Morriss to supply “an adequate sample of his hair, blood, saliva and other bodily fluid.” The FBI is investigating Morriss on the basis of violations of “Using a Facility of Interstate Commerce to Coerce or Entice a Minor to Engage in Illegal Sexual Activity” and to “Confine” the alleged victim(s).

Title 18 of the United States Code, section 2422(b) covering “Sexual Abuse” reads “Whoever in the . . territorial jurisdiction of the United States . . . engages in a sexual act with another person if that other person is physically incapable of declining participation in, or communicating unwillingness to engage in that sexual act.” The punishment under this section of the U.S. Code is imprisonment for up to twenty years.

The Grand Jury, which will determine if there is evidence to charge Morriss, will also review the case for possible violations of Title 18, section 1201(a) covering kidnapping. A perpetrator is defined as “whoever unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, . . . . a person who is willfully transported in interstate or foreign commerce.” The punishment under this section of the U.S. Code is imprisonment for up to life.

According to interviews conducted by InsideTexasWrestling.com, Texas USA Wrestling ran no background checks on Morriss prior to retaining his services as a coach. However, Texas USA Wrestling state chairman Allan Rodger has asserted that the organization did run a background check on Morriss, and that he came out “clean.”

However, a public access check on Morriss is not “clean”, according to sources interviewed by ITW. In addition, in a five-minute Internet search conducted by ITW, we were able to find that Morriss has a lengthy criminal record.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) records obtained by ITW, Morriss was convicted of DUI in 1983 and served 24 months probation. He was convicted of criminal mischief in 1991 and given four years probation. He was convicted of driving with a suspended license in 1996 and was confined for 35 days. He was arrested and charged with a second-degree felony (burglary of a habitation) in 1996 and spent 60 days in jail, followed by eight years probation.

Morriss also had his probation revoked for a second DUI occurring just six weeks after the first offense. Finally, the Internet search by ITW also uncovered several aliases used by Morriss.

It is obvious that no effort was made to screen Morriss and that no detailed background check was made. If these checks were indeed made, it would be interesting to know what the criteria are for employing a person to supervise and be in close contact with the young people who participate in Team Texas wrestling.

It is no secret that Allan Rodger has repeatedly run background checks on various individuals considered to be threats to his tenure as state chairman, including parents of Team Texas members, other wrestling coaches and people that he simply does not like. ITW has examined faxed copies of some of these background checks, supplied to us by Texas USA Wrestling.

Sources tell ITW that there are major concerns amongst parents of Team Texas members about the safety of their children. This begs the question: just who is in charge of Texas USA Wrestling, and what are the criteria for coaching? It is also important to know which adults in contact with our children under 18 have had a background check run, as well as why has this incident not been made public until now.