HCAO announces grand jury indictment on 12 counts of criminal sexual conduct against former coach/teacher
9/5/2024
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office today announced a grand jury indictment of 12 counts of criminal sexual conduct against a former coach and teacher at two Minneapolis charter schools.
The grand jury indicted Aaron Hjermstad on 12 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct involving penetration of 12 different victims – all under the age of 13. He had coached many of the children or one of their relatives. The assaults occurred from 2013 to 2021.
Hjermstad – a former physical education and health teacher at The Mastery School and a basketball coach at Hospitality House Youth Development and Harvest Best Academy - already is in prison on a 12-year sentence for sexually assaulting four boys he had coached. Before sentencing on those cases, Hjermstad fled the state. In December 2021, he was pulled over and apprehended in Idaho.
During that traffic stop, law enforcement found data showing thousands of videos of him assaulting additional children, some at his Brooklyn Center home, including the 12 victims in this new case. Idaho investigators turned the case over to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) for investigation.
“The number of children who were sexually assaulted by Hjermstad is horrific,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. “Hjermstad intentionally harmed children who had every right to trust him as their teacher and coach. We will seek lengthy prison sentences to keep children in our community safe.
“As a community we must do more to help abused children come forward and to provide resources to heal the harm inflicted upon them,” Moriarty said. “Abuse is never a child’s fault.”
Each count carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison, with possibility of parole.
The HCAO and the BCA encourage anyone else who was a victim of Hjermstad to come forward to ensure victims receive the necessary support and resources.