Senior Manitoba basketball official charged with sexually assaulting 2 fellow referees

A 42-year-old man who worked as a basketball referee for more than a decade and was a senior official for the Manitoba Association of Basketball Officials as recently as this year is facing sexual assault charges. 

Michael Shane Maryk was charged on Nov. 22 with two counts of sexual assault and one count of committing an indecent act, Winnipeg police said in a release Thursday. 

An investigation began in April after two men reported separate incidents that had happened while they were referees for the Manitoba Association of Basketball Officials. 

Both men were over 18 when the incidents occurred, Winnipeg police said in the release. They told officers they didn't initially report the incidents because they believed their refereeing careers would be put in jeopardy because the accused was in a position of authority at the time and was responsible for assigning games to other officials. 

In the release, police said the first victim reported being a closed office with the accused sometime between 2010 and 2011, when the accused started speaking to him in a sexual manner and then committed an indecent act in front of him. 

The second victim reported he and the accused refereed a game together out of town in February 2020. After the game, police say the accused gave him a ride and parked the vehicle in a "secluded area" on the way home before performing an indecent act and sexually assaulting him. 

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The second victim also said he was invited to the accused's house in 2020 under the guise of hosting a party for basketball officials, but he was the only person in attendance. He told police he was then sexually assaulted again, according to the release. 

Maryk