Hall of Shame: Bob LaBriola
I moved from Denver to the LA area towards the end of 2021. In early 2022, I began skating with the artistic skating program at Fountain Valley Skating Center.
It was shortly after I joined this program that I first heard the name Bob LaBriola. The year before I joined the club at Fountain Valley, Bob LaBriola had been removed from his position as club president.
According to written and verbal testimony from multiple witnesses, Bob LaBriola has been accused of regularly harassing and even sexually assaulting women and girls of all ages.
Despite the fact that Bob LaBriola’s decades of similar offenses are well known, no formal charges were levied against him. To my knowledge, he was never reported to law enforcement. Or to SafeSport, the adjudicating body that protects amateur athletes in America.
Around the same time that Bob LaBriola was removed from Fountain Valley, he and a group of other big names in skating created a new skating league – “Artistic American Roller Sports” (AARS).
Bob LaBriola still actively coaches children and adults through AARS. As recently as November 24 of this year, he delivered a seminar called “Secrets & Success” that was advertised and carried out through the AARS website.
Although Bob LaBriola is no longer allowed at Fountain Valley physically, his grandson Ryan LaBriola now manages the rink. And Bob is in regular contact with Chris Baerg, who was named president of the artistic club after his removal.
When I raised my concerns about athlete safety at Fountain Valley, Ryan LaBriola told me that he would kick me out of the club if I told anyone what I witnessed at the rink.
Why would he try to silence me, if he didn’t have something to hide?
With that question in mind, I decided to do a little digging on the LaBriola family. Keep reading to find out more about what I found on Bob LaBriola’s long-time abuse of power.
The Glory Days?
The Spring 1973 issue of Skate featured an article called “Spotlight on Robert LaBriola.” In 1973, LaBriola was working as an “operator and professional at Whittier Skateland in Whittier, California.”
He skated competitively in artistic roller skating from 1943 through 1953. On his Dance championships, LaBriola said, “Winning four consecutive Championships was no easy feat, especially for [my sister] Joan. In 1951 and 1953, my sister was approximately five months pregnant at the time of Nationals.”
Bob went on to marry Irene Kuroski, with whom he had three children – John, Donna, and Larry. All of their children competed in artistic roller skating. On his daughter Donna’s skating, Bob noted,
“[On] the night that Donna placed 2nd in Freshman Girls Singles, I don’t know how many people realized it, but she had broken her arm during the warm-up prior to the event. She had the courage to go ahead and skate, and ended up skating one of her best routines.”
In 1968, Bob was voted “Teacher of the Year.”
Bob LaBriola posing with one of his students. This image is posted on a public account, but I blacked out identifying details of the skater in question.
In the 1970 winter edition of Skate, Bob LaBriola shared his thoughts about the future of artistic roller skating. He encouraged his readers “to look objectively at all phases of dance skating and identify areas that need change and make those changes without delay.”
Bob went on to note that the “future of skating depends on a large, growing, and involved group of beginners.”
This sentence stuck out to me during my research. I wondered to myself, how would a large group of beginners help to advance a sport? (Keep in mind that these athletes would not be competitive for a few years at best.)
Since new skaters won’t win competitions, what is the point of attracting a large group of beginner skaters (almost entirely children)?
Of course, there is a financial incentive – more students means more money for coaches and skating clubs. But it also means large groups of young, vulnerable children.
This photo shows Bob Labriola’s son John skating with his partner (and future wife) Debbie Coyne at the National Championships in 1976.
Take a look at John’s hand placement. For reference, normal hand placement would be towards the top of the female partner’s rib cage. In no way is his hand placement normal.
The photo alone is suspicious enough. But what is seriously concerning is that this is the picture that they intentionally chose to feature on the printed (and distributed) results.
Who was responsible for the choice of photo? And why did they feel it was appropriate to use such an image, when there must surely have been less problematic options?
And again, just for reference, here is a picture of “correct posture” in an article on Dance skating form written by Bob LaBriola in 1967.
The LaBriola Family Legacy
Until his recent ousting, Bob LaBriola had owned Fountain Valley since 1976. In 2013 alone, Bob LaBriola gave out free skating vouchers to 60,000 schoolchildren.
This is a practice that continues to this day – handing out free skating passes to public schools in Orange County. Hundreds of thousands of children have likely skated at Fountain Valley since it was built in 1976.
In a 2021 article about the new AARS league, Bob LaBriola mentioned a message he had received that “his services will no longer be necessary with USARS.”
He further noted that artistic programs are “developed on many levels, even ¾ way up the ladder, artistic skating can be something to keep them in the building.”
To keep them in the building. The building he is no longer allowed in.
Bob LaBriola’s influence on skating doesn’t end with artistic roller skating. His niece, “Dirty Deb,” is a skate “celebrity” and well-known social media influencer.
When I was experiencing harassment at Fountain Valley, Deb told me not to give up. She said that I belonged there, and I should stay strong.
That all changed after she learned I filed the SafeSport report. I asked her to help coach me, since I no longer felt safe at Fountain Valley (nor could I support the lack of safety measures to prevent child abuse).
Her response? She told me that it sounded like I “needed some time alone” to really sit with my feelings. She was one of around a dozen coaches who refused to work with me after learning I had made a report to SafeSport.
This report, as I noted in my previous article, was almost entirely focused on multiple counts of child abuse in rinks across the West Coast.
Why This Matters
In my last post, I talked about how Jeff Ingrum’s NRS league is not one of the national governing bodies (NGBs) protected by SafeSport. This means that the children who participate in NRS are not automatically under SafeSport jurisdiction (and thus protection).
The same holds true of AARS, the skating league in which Bob LaBriola is a current and active participant.
US Roller Skating (or USARS) is the only national roller skating body recognized as an NGB under SafeSport.
That means that USARS is legally required to follow certain safety reporting procedures in accordance with “The Safer Sports for Athletes Act of 2024.”
In 2022, SafeSport sanctioned a man named Shane Hayden in Peyton, Colorado. The SafeSport disciplinary database notes the reason for this as “sexual misconduct involving a minor.”
Well I just did a background check on Shane Hayden. I found that he was arrested and charged with sexual abuse of a minor in 2019. According to the background check, he is also on the sex offender registry in Colorado.
Considering that Jeff Ingrum owns most of the roller rinks in the state of Colorado, is it most likely that Shane Hayden’s USARS participation took place at a Skate City rink.
But 2022 is also the year that Jeff Ingrum launched his new league, NRS. And it is the same year in which I reported another pedophile at Skate City Westminster (Richard Larghe).
The Ingrum and LaBriola families have held enormous power in the sport since the 1970s. Both families own roller rinks and other businesses. Jeff Ingrum’s son is a retired police officer, and many of the LaBriola men are attorneys.
By creating their own leagues, both families stand to profit. They do not have to pay fees associated with SafeSport affiliation. And they can pocket profits from skating competitions, membership fees, etc.
But at what cost?
