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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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What started as one former student alleging that a North Carolina State University trainer abused him on campus swelled to 31 accusers.
In court filings, the former athletes say university officials knew of complaints about the lead sports trainer on campus but did too little to protect them from abuse they contend occurred over a decade. They have filed a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court against the trainer and N.C. State administrators. A second lawsuit has been filed in the North Carolina Industrial Commission.
The Wake County lawsuit against the trainer and NC State administrators was dismissed on June 9, but the plaintiffs plan to appeal the decision.
Lawsuits allege that Robert Murphy, a former N.C. State director of sports medicine who worked at the university from 2012 to 2022, abused and harassed athletes during medically unnecessary massages and treatments and routine drug tests. Several plaintiffs say he touched their genitals during messages near their groins, in some cases when they didn’t have any injuries or pain in that area.
Since the first lawsuit was filed in 2022, a total of 31 athletes have come forward after recognizing that they were victims of Murphy’s abuse, said Kerry Sutton, one attorney representing the men.
It’s common for people not to recognize abuse and harassment until years later, experts say. In a recently settled case involving sexual harassment and abuse at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, some former students who had inappropriate sexual relationships with teachers didn’t realize it was wrong until others shared similar experiences in a conversation on Facebook.
Murphy resigned From N.C. State in 2022.
The complaint claims university leaders, including former athletic director Debbie Yow, ignored red flags. Coaches reportedly questioned Murphy’s behavior, describing “grooming” actions and inappropriate drug-testing practices, the court filing says. Staff and players even joked about Murphy’s massages. Administrators told Murphy to stay away from the players, but he didn’t, the lawsuits state. But attorneys for N.C. State argue that officials lacked enough evidence to launch an investigation and that those with authority weren’t adequately informed.
The accusations became public when former soccer player Benjamin Locke filed a lawsuit in August 2022. Prior to that, Locke had reported Murphy’s conduct from 2015 to 2017 to Raleigh police. That did not result in criminal charges but triggered a Title IX review by N.C. State’s Equal Opportunity and Equity unit. Murphy resigned days before its report was finalized. A North Carolina state official later wrote that, had Murphy still been employed, the allegations would have been “substantiated,” according to documents obtained by The News & Observer.
University attorneys have submitted court documents vigorously challenging the allegations. The evidence isn’t “sufficient to establish that an N.C. State official with the requisite authority to address discrimination and to institute corrective measures had actual knowledge of discrimination,” university attorneys argue in court documents.
University officials also have stressed that their defense in this case is independent of the university’s stance against sexual exploitation on campus.
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“Sexual misconduct of any kind is unacceptable, prohibited by N.C. State’s policies, and in direct opposition to the mission, culture, and standards of the university,” the university wrote in a federal court filing seeking to have a case dismissed.
On June 9, Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins dismissed the lawsuit against Murphy in Wake County Superior Court. Collins dismissed the civil case after Murphy’s attorney successfully argued the case had been filed in Superior Court after the three-year statute of limitations had expired.
Collins also dismissed the lawsuit against the current and former N.C. State administrators after their attorneys successfully argued that the civil case should be decided by the Industrial Commission, which hears negligence claims against state employees and agencies, and not Wake County Superior Court.
Sutton, one of the attorneys representing the former athletes, said they plan to appeal Collins’ rulings. Meanwhile, the men did file a lawsuit against N.C. State in the Industrial Commission, but the case is on hold until the Superior Court case is resolved through the appeal process. In the Industrial Commission, damages are capped at $1 million.
Murphy’s attorney has said that the former sports trainer denies the allegations. Murphy has never faced criminal prosecution. No charges followed Locke’s report to police. Locke’s alleged abuse occurred before a state law passed in 2018 that made sexual contact under the guise of medical care a felony.
Sutton said at least one of the plaintiffs whose alleged abuse occurred after the law was adopted has spoken to Raleigh police about what he experienced. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman confirmed there is an ongoing criminal investigation related to the complaint.
Murphy’s license to practice athletic training in North Carolina was permanently revoked in 2023 based on the allegations from Locke and two others, according to the lawsuits.
Steve Wiseman, The News & Observer’s sports editor, contributed to this article.
Virginia Bridges covers criminal justice in the Triangle and across North Carolina for The News & Observer. Her work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The N&O maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 1:15 PM with the headline “What to know about dismissed lawsuits alleging NC State trainer abused athletes.”
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