Former youth basketball coach charged in 3rd case of criminal sexual conduct

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (FOX 9) - A former youth basketball coach has been charged in his third criminal sexual conduct case in which he allegedly sexually abused boys he was coaching at the time.

Aaron Hjermstad, 41, of Brooklyn Center, has been charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct after a case from 2015 was reevaluated.

According to the criminal complaint, in May 2015, a middle school aged boy reported to Brooklyn Center Police Department that his coach, Hjermstad, touched him inappropriately while he was staying overnight at his home following a Timberwolves game. Investigators believe the incident happened in November or December of 2014.

The victim also reported a second incident happened in March 2015 at Hjermstad's home in which the coach allegedly looked up the boy's shorts. In a CornerHouse interview, a teammate said the boy told him that Hjermstad made the boy touch the coach inappropriately.

Hjermstad is also facing criminal sexual assault charges for two other cases. In both cases, he allegedly sexually abused boys who were staying over at his home. One case involves incidents from Aug. 1, 2016 to June 30, 2018, while the other case involved an incident from February of this year.

Hjermstad is not in custody. The State is requesting a warrant issue on the latest charges "even though it is a number of years old because this is now the defendant's third active sexual assault case."