SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Aaron Thomas, the once-celebrated North Kingstown High School basketball coach, was acquitted of felony charges of second-degree child molestation and second-degree sexual assault for his “naked fat tests” of teen male student-athletes.
Instead, the jury in Washington County Superior Court found Thomas guilty on two counts of misdemeanor battery. He’ll return to court for sentencing on June 26 and could face up to a year in prison on each charge.
The jury of six men and six women returned the verdict on Monday, after deliberating since Wednesday. One juror was replaced during the deliberations last week after reporting a “potential conflict of interest,” which restarted the process.
As the verdict was read, a mother who’d attended the trial every day in support of her sons embraced a friend. Thomas showed little emotion.
The jurors declined comment after their decision. Thomas did not comment, but stood outside the courthouse as attorney John MacDonald, one of his lawyers, said he thanked the jury for the verdict.
“We are very satisfied that the jury saw the case the way we saw it: No sexual intent whatsoever,” MacDonald said.
Thomas was relieved “that he walks out of this courthouse and he’s not a convicted sex offender,” MacDonald said.
If Thomas had been convicted of the felonies, he would have faced a minimum mandatory sentence of three years. He would have had to register as a sex offender and wouldn’t be able to work as a teacher.
Thomas had voluntarily suspended his state educator certifications during the criminal investigation and trial. His certification will remain suspended while Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green reviews the relevant evidence and considers additional next steps in consultation with Rhode Island Department of Education legal counsel, spokesman Victor Morente said.
One former student-athlete who testified against Thomas said, “This verdict is proof perfect of how our laws fall short of holding authority figures accountable for abuses on children.”
Attorney General Peter F. Neronha addressed the former students who had come forward, “Please remember this: your exceptional courage here is not invalidated by this verdict.”
“Above all else, this case is about the victims who suffered greatly behind closed doors,” Neronha said in a statement. “Despite what the defendant and his defense would have you believe, pseudo-science is not an excuse for abuse, nor is winning more important than well-being. We believe that what took place here was not just bad judgment, it was, and always has been, criminal conduct.”
Neronha said prosecutors were restricted by the three-year statute of limitations for second-degree sexual assault. His office has tried since 2022 to convince the General Assembly to extend the statute of limitations to 10 years.
If the law had changed, Neronha said, “we could have, and would have, charged [Thomas] with many more crimes.”
Thomas, 57, lost his job in early 2021 after former student-athletes told school administrators he had performed private “naked fat tests” on them. The accusations became public in October 2021, after Thomas was hired to teach at Monsignor Clarke, a Catholic school in South Kingstown. He was fired shortly after.
That led to revelations that school officials were told in June 2021 that Thomas was a “potential threat and liability” according to an investigative report. Subsequent investigations for the school committee in March 2022 and the town in June 2022 were scathing, finding school officials had been blind to Thomas’s actions — and that Thomas had lied about what he was doing.
School officials stepped down. The interim superintendent restructured the athletic department. Former student-athletes filed civil lawsuits.
Thomas was charged in July 2022 with second-degree child molestation, from on a player who alleged he was tested starting when he was 13, in 2001 to early 2002; and second-degree sexual assault, from a player who was tested between September 2019 and June 30, 2020.
Thomas admitted that 600 teenage boys playing sports at North Kingstown had gone through his self-designed body-fat tests over 28 years.
Thomas asked every one of them the same question, every time: “Are you shy or not shy?” It was the phrase he used to invite the boys to take off their underwear, so he could use his hands and calipers to pinch and probe around their groins, their inner thighs, and the muscles leading to their genitals.
Thomas testified that he came up with his own version of body-fat tests based on his own research. A body-composition expert testified about numerous flaws in Thomas’s tests.
Special Assistant Attorney General Meagan Thomson said on Tuesday that Thomas was “not a pioneer, but a predator,” who’d developed the tests so he could touch the groins of naked boys.
Lawyer John Calcagni III, who represented Thomas with MacDonald, told jurors in his closing remarks that the case against Thomas was “weak on actual evidence of criminal conduct.”
Since the trial began on April 7, the jury heard testimony from 25 witnesses, including Thomas, and reviewed more than 170 exhibits.
The trial came down to an issue of credibility: Did the jury believe Thomas, or the former student-athletes who testified against him?
Ten former student-athletes testified for the prosecution and four for the defense, and all had similar stories about Thomas inviting them to remove their underwear when they were alone with him in his office or a janitor‘s closet.
Every time, they said, Thomas asked if they were “shy or not shy.” Some testified that Thomas also felt around their genitals for “hernia” or “puberty checks.” One testified that Thomas felt around his buttocks. One testified that when he was 15, he had an erection when Thomas kept pressing near his naked groin, and that he saw Thomas with an erection.
Several former student-athletes tried to get the attention of public officials over the last several years. In 2017, the former athletic director saw Thomas alone with a half-dressed teen boy and told the principal. In 2018, a former student-athlete told then-Superintendent Phil Auger about the fat tests.
Another former student-athlete testified he saw similarities between Thomas and disgraced Dr. Larry Nassar, convicted of sexually assaulting female gymnasts under the guise of medical treatment, which prompted him to contact law enforcement and create social media posts, trying to draw attention. Another former student-athlete emailed Auger and the deputy superintendent in February 2021, begging them to stop Thomas — and that’s what led school officials to terminate his job.
Some of the former athletes became emotional on the stand. The two whose allegations led to the charges spoke about how Thomas’s actions affected their mental health. One was institutionalized during his senior year and has been in mental health treatment through his adult life. The other said that he’d thought about harming himself.
During his five days on the witness stand, Thomas admitted that he lied – to school administrators in 2018 and the North Kingstown police in 2021 – claiming the teens weren’t naked. He admitted that he continued testing naked boys in his office, despite being told not to be alone with students.
Experts testified there was no reason for anyone to be naked during a body composition test.
The parents of two former student-athletes who’d pushed to expose Thomas’s “naked fat tests” said they were proud of their sons’ tenacity.
“But for the bravery of these victims, and the tenacity of the Attorney General’s office, [Thomas’s] criminal conduct would have gone unaddressed by the legal system at all,” said lawyer Timothy J. Conlon, who is representing some of the former athletes in civil lawsuits.
Conlon added: “The issue of the responsibility of a school system — and of school officials — that allowed this conduct to go on for decades now remains.”
‘Not a pioneer, a predator’: Former R.I. basketball coach designed ‘naked fat tests’ to abuse boys, prosecutor says‘Weak on evidence of criminal conduct’: In trial of former R.I. basketball coach, defense argues there was no crimeFormer R.I. high school basketball coach admits he lied to authorities about ‘naked fat tests’
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