A Winnipeg basketball referee accused of sexual offences involving three people has had the criminal charges against him stayed, on the condition that he stay away from them and refrain from officiating or coaching for one year. Michael Shane Maryk, in his 40s, was charged Nov. 22, 2023, with two counts of sexual assault and one count of committing an indecent act. Provincial Court Judge Stacy Cawley stayed the charges, based on a joint request from Crown attorneys Noah Globerman and Alanna Littman and Maryk’s defence lawyer Jay Prober. Maryk agreed to the terms of a one-year peace bond, under which he agreed not to contact the three complainants and not to come within 200 metres of their homes, workplaces, schools or places of worship. Maryk also agreed not to “coach or referee for any team or organization under the auspices of Sport Manitoba or otherwise.” Prober sought a global publication ban barring media from identifying the three complainants, Maryk and the sports organization involved, which the court granted. “I am going to order that no information be published or broadcast in any manner that would include the name of the accused, the names of the complainants or the name of the organization in question,” Cawley said at the July 20 hearing. Littman told the court the concern was that publishing his name or the organization’s name “links them to the complainants.” “It’s all grounded in protecting the complainants’ identity,” the judge said at the time. A spokesperson for the courts confirmed to CTV News that a judge later granted an application to “remove the restriction of publishing the name of the accused and the association to which he and the complainants belonged.” Maryk was arrested in November 2023, several months after two men reported that he had allegedly sexually assaulted them while they were referees with the Manitoba Association of Basketball Officials, according to a news release from the Winnipeg Police Service. One of the men reported that, between 2010 and 2011, he was in a closed office with Maryk, who allegedly spoke to him in a sexual manner and committed an indecent act in front of him. Another man told police that he was riding in Maryk’s car in 2020 after they had refereed a game together and that Maryk parked in a secluded area and allegedly performed an indecent act before sexually assaulting him. That man also told police Maryk invited him to his house, claiming there would be a party for basketball officials. He said he arrived to find he was the only guest and was allegedly sexually assaulted again, the news release states. Both men told police they did not report the alleged incidents sooner because they believed their officiating careers would be put in jeopardy, the release notes.
