From www.usatoday.com – Mark Scott, a longtime administrator with USA Wrestling who was honored by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2004, has been arrested in Colorado for allegedly attempting to use the Internet to lure a “person he believed to be an under-aged teen” for sexual purposes, according to the Jefferson County (Colo.) district attorney’s office.
Scott joined USA Wrestling in 1989. As director of state services for the Colorado Springs-based governing body, he has worked with the state and regional programs and coordinated national and international events.
USA Wrestling has issued a statement saying Scott has been relieved of all duties and placed on administrative leave.
“USA Wrestling was shocked and disturbed about this situation,” the governing body said in a statement. “USA Wrestling has zero tolerance for this type of conduct. The organization will fully cooperate with the appropriate authorities. USA Wrestling will monitor the criminal proceedings and take appropriate action as necessary.”
Scott, 49, of Colorado Springs, was arrested Monday by the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Child Internet Sex Offender Unit.
According to a press release from the district attorney’s office, he was arrested on suspicion of attempted sexual exploitation of a child, attempted Internet sexual exploitation of a child and Internet luring of a child.
The release said that over the past month Scott engaged in a “sexually graphic (Internet) chat” with a person “he believed” to be an under-aged teenaged girl.
“The child was in fact an undercover district attorney investigator,” said the release.
According to the arrest affidavit, Scott was contacted by phone on Monday by the district attorney’s office and voluntarily turned himself in.
Scott was booked into the Jefferson County Detention Center. At an appearance Tuesday before a county judge, bond was set at $25,000. He is scheduled for another court appearance Friday.
In 2004 Scott received the Medal of Courage from the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla. The award goes to a wrestler or former wrestler “who has overcome what appear to be insurmountable challenges, which may be physical, mental or other handicaps that make their achievements all the more uplifting.”
Scott was a youth and high school wrestler in Wyoming. While in high school in 1976, he was working on his parked car when it was struck by another vehicle, according to a USA Wrestling press release. Both of Scott’s legs were amputated near his knees as a result of injuries sustained in the accident.