Alleged victim of Metro Detroit coach goes public on social media
Alleged victim of Metro Detroit high school coach goes public
Moriyah Hamell harbored her painful secret for 8 years. Back when she was 16 years old, her basketball coach at River Rouge High School, now 58-year-old Mark White, allegedly sexually assaulted her at his home with his wife and kids just down the hall.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - It has been two years since FOX 2 learned that a high school basketball coach would bounce from school to school allegedly preying on teen girls along the way, getting away with it.
That was until one young woman put an end to the destructive and potentially criminal pattern.
Why you should care:
Moriyah Hamell harbored her painful secret for 8 years. Back when she was 16 years old, her basketball coach at River Rouge High School, now 58-year-old Mark White, allegedly sexually assaulted her at his home with his wife and kids just down the hall.
"I was asleep. And I woke up with him having my chest in his mouth, and kind of like didn’t want to acknowledge that I was up because I didn’t want him to do anything. I was kind of shocked at that moment," she said.
She said he kept going, talking about her genitals and fondling her.
"He noticed that I was totally uncomfortable. He asked if I was comfortable, and I straight up told him no, and I was ready to go," she said.
The backstory:
In 2023, FOX 2 exposed White after he was let go from Summit Academy in Van Buren Township, with accusations of a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student.
Investigators told FOX 2 then, there was a significant amount of communication between them, but it never amounted to charges.
FOX 2 learned similar accusations from dozens of teen girls go back to his days at Renaissance High School in Detroit in the late 90s, then River Rouge High School—where Moriyah went.
What's next:
Moriyah went public on TikTok in the fall of 2024, then to Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputies about the assault.
Moriyah says he groomed her, derailing her already troubled life, losing her mom at age 7, and a strained relationship with her father.
She looked at Mark like a father figure.
White was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct and is now out on bond, while other potential victims are still in the shadows.
"You got to get it out somehow because it’s going to eat at you. It’s going to change you. It’s going to make you a person you don’t want to become, and to prevent that, you can tell your truth and story," she said.
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