Former Youth Basketball Coach Charged With Assaulting Another Child
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A former Twin Cities basketball coach, who is already charged with sexually assaulting players that stayed at his home, is facing new charges connected with an older case.
Last month, 41-year-old Aaron Hjermstad, of Brooklyn Center, was charged with assaulting two boys. Hjermstad is a former teacher at the Mastery School in Minneapolis and basketball coach with Hospitality House.
On Friday, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced that Hjermstad is now facing a new charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct stemming from a re-examined 2015 case.
According to a criminal complaint, a middle school-aged child reported to authorities that Hjermstad touched him inappropriately when he stayed the night at his home in late 2014. The child reported a second incident in early spring of 2015. Hjermstad is accused of touching the child inappropriately and making the child touch him.
Hjermstad was slated to appear Friday in Hennepin County Court. In total, he faces one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and one count of soliciting a child to engage in a sex act.
Jeff Anderson, attorney representing one of the survivors, says that there maybe dozens of children abused by Hjermstad over the years. According to Anderson, Hjermstad groomed children in a "disturbing mattern," not only at Mastery School and Hospitality House, but also at Excell Academy in Brooklyn Park.
Anderson is encouraging survivors and their families to come forward and get the help they deserve.
