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Former soccer player Benjamin Locke filed a federal lawsuit in 2022 accusing former athletics director Debbie Yow and other N.C. State leaders of failing to protect him and other athletes from sexual abuse and harassment by former trainer Robert Murphy. Since then, at least 31 former athletes have signed onto a lawsuit, as of April 2026. Here is ongoing coverage.
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A Wake County judge dismissed a civil lawsuit that accused current and former N.C. State University officials of allowing a former sports trainer to sexually harass male scholarship athletes.
In orders filed Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins dismissed the lawsuit against former N.C. State head trainer Robert Murphy and seven former and current administrators. The administrators include former athletics director Debbie Yow and her 2019 successor, Eugene “Boo” Corrigan.
The lawsuit stated university officials recruited athletes to play sports at the school but left them vulnerable to Murphy’s sexual harassment and abuse, despite complaints from coaches and others.
Twenty-five of the 31 plaintiffs in the case complained in court documents that when Murphy collected urine samples for drug tests, he often asked the men to fully expose themselves, allowing him to stare at their genitals. Eighteen of the former scholarship athletes said Murphy’s sports treatments and massages included him touching or nearly touching their genitals, even when he was treating their feet or Achilles tendons, the lawsuit states.
Twelve of the men described both problematic drug tests and sexual abuse during massages or treatments.
In the Tuesday order, Collins dismissed the civil case against Murphy, whose attorney argued the case had been filed in Superior Court after the three-year statute of limitations had expired.
In another order, Collins said he agreed with administrators who argued that the civil case didn’t belong in Superior Court. The claims belong before the Industrial Commission, which hears negligence claims against state employees and agencies, the administrators argued.
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In that court, damages are capped at $1 million and cases are determined by judges, not juries. The alumni have filed a lawsuit against the university in the Industrial Commission, but the case is on hold until the Wake County Superior Court case concludes. The men’s attorneys, Robert Jenkins, Lisa Lanier and Kerry Sutton, argued in court and court documents that the men deserve to be heard by a jury.
The other defendants in the case are:
In a statement, NC State officials said they do not condone sexual misconduct of any kind.
“We recognize the immense courage it takes for someone to come forward, and our hearts go out to any student or student-athlete who has been impacted by distressing experiences,” the statement said.
Murphy’s attorney Jared Hammett said that Murphy was someone who dedicated his life to working with athletes. “The truth is nothing happened but a man’s career being ruined for money,” Hammett said.
Murphy hasn’t been criminally charged. Assistant District Attorney Melanie Shekita said in April that she is investigating possible criminal charges against Murphy.
Kerry Sutton, who is representing the 31 former N.C. State athletes who filed the lawsuit, wrote in a statement that the decision does not center on whether the abuse took place but rather on legal procedure.
“We plan to appeal this outcome and in coming days will be adding new claims against NCSU for men who have recently come forward,” Sutton wrote.
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 7:20 PM.