Lawyers for Oro Valley couple suing Josh Pastner ask to be removed from case

The attorneys representing an Oro Valley couple in lawsuits involving Georgia Tech basketball coach Josh Pastner are asking to be removed from the case, saying they believe the couple exaggerated — if not fabricated — their sexual assault claim against the former Wildcat.

In a June 6 motion, Tucson attorneys Paul Gattone and Ashley Gilpin said based on their recent dealings with the couple and the results of an independent investigation paid for by Georgia Tech, they felt they “cannot ethically” remain part of the case.

Pastner filed a lawsuit against Ron Bell and Jennifer Pendley in January, saying the couple had tried to blackmail him. In response, the couple filed a counterclaim, alleging that Pastner — a former Arizona Wildcats player and coach — had raped Pendley in 2016.

In March, Bell was arrested and extradited to Georgia on an old warrant for a probation violation. During Bell’s incarceration, the couple would not participate in the discovery process of the lawsuit, which was understandable, according to the motion.

But after Bell’s release from jail and return to Tucson in late April, the couple was unresponsive to their attorneys’ attempts to reach them. On April 27, Bell texted to say Pendley had been hospitalized and they would be in touch the following Tuesday, the motion said.

On May 13, Bell sent Gattone a text asking to meet at a Denny’s near their home a week later. Bell and Pendley refused to speak over the phone about the case and wouldn’t answer questions about the location of a T-shirt that Bell and Pendley claimed contained Pastner’s semen, the motion said.

During the meeting, Bell and Pendley said they were concerned with the way the case was being handled, but would cooperate and provide the information necessary for the discovery process.

“They refused to discuss the T-shirt and despite concerns, (Gattone) left the meeting without that issue being resolved,” the motion said.

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Over the next few days, Gattone told Bell and Pendley that they had to produce the T-shirt, or else he’d withdraw from the case. On May 24, Bell responded, saying that he was out of town but they’d hand over the shirt on May 28, according to the motion.

The couple previously told Gattone that the T-shirt was in a safe deposit box that only Bell had access to, which explained why they couldn’t produce it during Bell’s incarceration, the motion says.

“Counsel have come to learn that this was not the case and the T-shirt could have been produced much sooner,” the motion says, adding that Gattone and Gilpin believe that they were “misled as to the nature of the evidentiary value of the T-shirt.”

The couple did not produce the T-shirt on May 28, but contacted Gattone three days later, at which point he told them that he was going to ask to be removed from the case because of their failure to produce the shirt and cooperate with pending discovery requests.

The attorneys’ filing comes the same week that Pastner was cleared of sexual misconduct allegations through an independent investigation paid for by Georgia Tech. The investigation revealed that “none of the allegations of sexual misconduct against Josh Pastner are credible,” according to a university spokesman.

The 29-page investigative report from the law firm Fisher Phillips says that Bell and Pendley’s attorney “declined to make them available or otherwise provide any requested information.”

“It is highly likely that the allegations of sexual misconduct against Pastner were concocted by Bell, made in bad faith, and asserted only after various other attempts to damage and/or extort Pastner failed,” the report says.

Before Georgia Tech, Pastner, 40, coached at Memphis from 2009-16. He spent the 2002-08 seasons as an assistant to Arizona’s Lute Olson. As a player, Pastner was a member of the Wildcats’ 1997 National Championship team.