Carson City Pop Warner announces end of investigation, regional leaders silent regarding sex offender involvement
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Tue, 06/27/2023 - 5:00pm
On Tuesday, Carson City Pop Warner announced on their Facebook page that they had been “released to resume operations” and are moving forward with the 2023 Football and Cheer season.
A 30 day "pause" was initiated after it was reveled that the CCPW president and board had knowingly allowed a convicted sex offender to attend games, practices and trips with his wife, who recently was promoted to Cheer Coordinator.
According to CCPW, Doretta Cramer, the Regional Director of the Pacific Northwest Region sent an email to CCPW which stated the following:
“League, Region Review of Carson City Situation. Based on the conclusion of out [sic] investigation, Carson City Pop warner was found to have conducted itself in accordance with the policies and procedures of Pop Warner. They are cleared to commence business as usual”
CCPW announced registration would take place Thursday, June 29 from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturday, July 8 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Governor’s Field in Carson City.
Despite multiple attempts at contact, regional leaders Gary Archie and Cramer have not responded to Carson Now regarding the investigation.
In May, Carson Now emailed Archie requesting clarification on the following Pop Warner Policy:
Pop Warner programs nationwide are required to annually conduct a background check of: Coaches, Board of Directors members and any other persons, volunteers or hired workers, who provide regular service to the league and-or have repetitive access to, or contact with, players and-or spirit participants. The purpose of these background checks is, first and foremost, to protect the children.
Archie refused to respond, and to date, has not responded to any other requests for comments by both phone and email.
Regional leaders and CCPW in their statement did not indicate whether or not President Austin Matthews and Cheer Coordinator Katie Miles and her husband Gabe Miles would continue to be involved with CCPW.
It was revealed in May on social media that Gabe Miles is a convicted sex offender who routinely attends games, practices, and even trips to Las Vegas with the teenaged cheer team. Gabe Miles admitted to and was convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old girl on multiple occasions.
Matthews told Carson Now he had known about Gabe Miles’s status for years, but had deemed him not to be a threat. He told Carson Now that the coaches and parents who knew were all supportive of Gabe’s ongoing participation.
However, after speaking with multiple former coaches and board members as well as current parents, all were “shocked” to discover Gabe Miles’s status was known and accepted by the CCPW board.
Carson Now was told that board members had quit over the status of Gabe Miles and the promotion of Katie Miles to Cheer Coordinator, which Matthews denied. While Katie Miles had previously been a coach, the cheer coordinator is a higher position that would have access to all cheer members.
Multiple coaches also told Carson Now that cheer fittings and meetings at the previous cheer coordinator’s home had occurred on a number of occasions, something Matthews also denied.
A former coach, Kaeli Lopez, was upset about the lack of information included in the post from CCPW.
"I don’t think this absolves them of any wrongdoing," Lopez said. "Whether or not they followed the policies, there is a huge moral issue with what these people have allowed to happen on their fields. Defending a sexual predator will never be okay, period."
Several parents Carson Now spoke to stated they felt betrayed and were furious that a known sex offender was allowed around girls of the same age as Gabe Miles' victim. Some told Carson Now they would no longer be involved with CCPW, but others stated they would consider going back if Matthews and the Mileses were removed from the board.
At this time, there is no indication that either of the Mileses or Matthews have been removed from participating in CCPW, and all comments on the Facebook announcements have been turned off.
CCPW said that an official statement from National and Regional Pop Warner will be released this week.
We will update with more information as it becomes available.
