FARIBAULT, Minn. (FOX 9) - A former teacher and wrestling coach at a Minnesota school for the deaf is now facing serious criminal charges — decades after the alleged abuse took place.
Charges filed decades after alleged assault
What we know:
David Arthur Rohm, a former teacher and wrestling coach at the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf in Faribault, has been charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly assaulting a student when the victim was in ninth grade, according to a complaint filed Sept. 18 in Rice County District Court.
Rohm, born Jan. 13, 1948, is accused of sexually assaulting a student between September 1985 and June 1988, according to the complaint. The victim was between 13 and 15 years old at the time, and Rohm was both a teacher and wrestling coach, placing him in a position of authority over the student.
The first charge alleges Rohm engaged in sexual penetration with a victim between the ages of 13 and 15 while in a position of authority, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $40,000 fine. The second charge alleges the same conduct and carries a maximum sentence of 15 years and a $30,000 fine.
Victim comes forward 40 years later
The backstory:
The complaint states the victim reported the assault to Faribault police, approximately 40 years after it allegedly occurred. The victim said he was a student at the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf, where students were not allowed to leave campus, even on weekends.
The complaint states the victim told investigators that during his freshman year, he noticed Rohm becoming increasingly physical — squeezing his arms, pulling him in for hugs, holding him longer than necessary and squeezing his buttocks. The victim also said Rohm treated him differently than other students during math class.
The complaint states the assault itself allegedly occurred in the tunnels on the school's grounds. According to the complaint, wrestlers who needed to lose weight would wear rubber suits and run in the tunnels. On the day of the alleged assault, the victim said he was not over his weight limit, but Rohm still made him run in the tunnels. After the other wrestlers finished, Rohm made the victim stay and run another lap. As the victim finished the lap, he said he saw Rohm with his pants down, performing a sexually explicit act.
The complaint states After the alleged assault, the victim said Rohm acted as if nothing had happened, but on several occasions pulled the boy aside and told him he could not tell anyone what happened.
Investigation, prior conviction and what comes next
The backstory:
The complaint states in July 2025, Faribault police detectives met with the victim. Authorities learned in September 2025 Rohm was living in Jackson, Tenn., and was on supervised release tied to a federal conviction.
The complaint states through a search warrant, authorities obtained Rohm's personnel file from the Minnesota Academy for the Deaf, which confirmed Rohm worked as a teacher and coach at the school during the time the victim was a student.
On Aug. 11, authorities traveled to Tennessee and interviewed Rohm. He confirmed that wrestlers who needed to cut weight would run in the tunnels on campus. The complaint states when shown photographs of the wrestling team that included both himself and the victim, Rohm identified himself but said he could not remember or identify anyone else in the photos.
What we don't know:
Rohm's prior federal case, announced out of Memphis, Tenn., resulted in an 87-month federal prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to receiving DVDs containing sexually explicit images of minor boys, according to federal court records. In addition to the prison term, a federal judge ordered Rohm to serve 10 years of supervised release and to forfeit all computers and media containing the material.
It is not yet clear how the new Rice County charges will interact with Rohm's existing federal supervised release. Because Rohm lives out of state and is on federal supervised release, prosecutors requested a warrant for his arrest, according to the complaint.
The Source: This story is based on a criminal complaint filed Sept. 18 in Rice County District Court and federal court records related to Rohm's 2014 conviction.