SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Aaron Thomas, the once-celebrated former North Kingstown High School basketball coach, testified he had lied to the police and school administrators when he was questioned about “fat testing” naked teen boys.
Thomas admitted during his criminal trial on Tuesday that he didn’t tell authorities that, for 28 years, hundreds of teen athletes were naked for his self-designed body-fat tests.
“My concern was I would definitely lose my job … just the way they explode [everything] in the media, everything builds up against you,” Thomas said. “That’s why I’ll never teach again.”
The admission — and an apology — came on Thomas’s third day of testimony in Washington County Superior Court.
“I’m truly sorry that it occurred the way it occurred,” Thomas said. “It was never my intent to hurt, cause any kind of pain, or embarrass, or make uncomfortable, even.”
Thomas said he invited the boys to strip because it made it easier for him to get their measurements, pinch, and apply pressure near their groins.
Of the 600 or so male student-athletes who took part in his body-fat testing program, Thomas estimated that about 80 percent of them opted to take off their underwear for portions of the test, when he asked if they were “Shy or not shy?”
“It became an old habit, it was a way of doing business, no complaints, it was working, there were no issues,” Thomas said of asking the boys to strip. “It was something I continually did with no issues and never put any thought behind it.”
When the authorities questioned Thomas about what he was doing with the boys alone in his office, he lied.
Former R.I. high school basketball coach told police teens weren’t naked during his ‘fat tests’
When Superintendent Phil Auger called a meeting in the fall of 2018 to discuss a former athlete’s complaint about the testing program, Thomas denied that any of the teens were naked.
Auger ordered Thomas to stop testing the teens alone. The high school got an expensive body-fat machine and set protocol for two staff members to be present during testing.
But, despite Auger’s warning, Thomas said he continued testing a few athletes. He said he thought his tests — a compilation of various materials he’d researched — were more accurate. He said he continued testing the boys alone in his office because he couldn’t find another staff member to assist.
Victim of North Kingstown coach’s ‘naked fat tests’ testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee
In February 2021, the school administration suspended Thomas after another former student complained about his “naked fat tests.” When the North Kingstown police contacted Thomas nearly two weeks later, he lied again.
The jury were previously shown Thomas’s interview with two detectives, where he denied that students were naked.
“I was not completely truthful, no,” Thomas said Tuesday, answering a question from his lawyer John Calcagni III. “At that time, it was ten days after I was suspended from the school department. I was trying to find out who was behind this, and how quickly I could get back to my basketball team because we were in the playoffs.”
Why should anyone believe you now? Calcagni asked.
“I’m under oath, and I’ve sworn to tell the truth,” Thomas said. “I’ve lost everything from this, jobs, teaching, coaching, the embarrassment, being in the media every day… When I look at this now, I understand why it’s considered wrong.”
Thomas is charged with second-degree child molestation and second-degree sexual assault, stemming from allegations by two former athletes.
He denied touching their genitals, making sexual remarks, or doing the tests for the purposes of sexual arousal. He disputed the testimony of one former player, who said the coach had an erection during the test, and said that he never saw any players with erections, either.
“If I had, I would have stopped the test,” Thomas said. “It would be an embarrassing situation.”
Thomas said he asked the teens to strip when he was taking measurements and pinching the adductor muscle, near the groin area. He also said he was checking “trigger points” in the area, because he was concerned about groin injuries in his players.
Thomas did not explain how his tests would demonstrate that someone had a groin injury. He has testified that he was self-taught, reading various literature on weight lifting and body composition, but didn’t seek training or certification.
A body-composition expert for the prosecution told the jury that those tests weren’t valid and that there was no reason for anyone to be naked.
Thomas also admitted that he could have done the tests while the teens were wearing shorts.
He said he asked them if they were “shy or not shy” — an invitation to take off their underwear — because “I believe I was giving the athletes a choice,” Thomas said. Having the “whole area exposed, the measurements were reliable,” rather than having the teens roll up their underwear, he said.
“I do acknowledge it was wrong,” Thomas added. “There is no question about it.”
Thomas also testified that he always logged the teens’ statistics in spreadsheets and graphs. The former athlete from the child-molestation charge testified that he was 13 when Thomas began testing him; Thomas reviewed a spreadsheet that showed the former athlete was 14.
Thomas also disputed the former athlete’s testimony that the coach performed an impromptu “hernia check” in the referee’s locker room before a game. Thomas said he didn’t perform any tests in the locker room and wouldn’t have had time to do so before a game.
Thomas has testified that he thought his program of testing body fat, flexibility, and growth, was effective.
Thomas also admitted that he discussed the results only with individual students, and not their parents or other coaches, including the teacher running the weight room.
Thomas is expected to be questioned by state prosecutors on Wednesday.
Former R.I. high school coach Aaron Thomas testifies in criminal trial over his ‘naked fat tests’What you need to know about North Kingstown High School Coach Aaron Thomas and the ‘fat test’ issueHow did a coach’s naked ‘body fat’ tests go on for 25 years?
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