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‘Rank speculation’: Former R.I. coach behind naked ‘fat tests’ seeks to dismiss molestation, sexual assault charges
An attorney for Aaron Thomas said his client’s actions “never rose to the level of criminal behavior.”
An attorney for the former Rhode Island high school coach accused of molesting one teen and sexually assaulting another as he performed naked “fat tests” and “puberty tests” on the student athletes is seeking to dismiss the criminal charges against his client, arguing there’s no evidence the one-time teacher conducted the controversial exams for his sexual arousal or gratification.
John MacDonald, the lawyer representing former North Kingstown High School boys basketball coach Aaron Thomas, told Boston.com on Tuesday the allegations are “rank speculation.”
“As bad as the optics are for both Aaron Thomas and the North Kingstown School Department, his actions never rose to the level of criminal behavior,” MacDonald said.
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“Unfortunately, we’re in court slugging it out and I’m hopeful the case ends at this stage.”
Previously:
MacDonald made his argument before Washington County Superior Court judge Melanie Wilk-Thunberg on Monday during a hearing on his motion to dismiss the second-degree charges of child molestation and sexual assault against the 56-year-old former coach.
But prosecutors contend Thomas’ actions are indicative of his intent.
“Why is he touching these kids? Why is he doing puberty tests? Why is he doing fat tests? Why is he touching these young men?” Assistant Attorney General Timothy Healy told Wilk-Thunberg, according to The Providence Journal.
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“When the court looks at all the circumstances as a whole, the defendant’s intentions become clear.”
The allegations
More than 30 former students who attended the school between the early 1990s and 2018 told authorities Thomas performed “fat tests” inside a small, closed-door office after they were asked to completely undress for the exam, according to prosecutors.
The tests were typically performed with calipers, and often involved Thomas using skin on the upper thigh near the students’ genitals to perform the tests after asking them if they were “shy or not shy,” a June 2022 report commissioned by the North Kingstown Town Council found.
In court filings, MacDonald wrote the body composition tests were voluntary and offered “for players who wanted to improve their performance.”
Prosecutors allege that one of the students, between 2000 and 2002, was molested by Thomas, particularly during a “hernia test” in which Thomas touched him between his testicles and his anus, court filings show.
Another student was sexually assaulted by Thomas when he was subjected to “puberty tests” in 2018, officials allege.
During one of the exams, the teen was ordered to sit naked on Thomas’ office floor and spread his legs, prosecutors allege. Thomas then pressed his finger into the student’s inner thigh and scrotum area, causing the boy to have an erection, officials allege.
Thomas’ defense
In court filings, MacDonald said the incidents do not meet the definition of “sexual contact” under the law, which requires that a victim was touched for the aggressor’s sexual arousal or gratification or for intended assault.
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Prosecutors have said Thomas was “breathing heavily” during the fat test that happened more than two decades ago.
“You got to have more than that,” MacDonald said on Tuesday. “You know, he’s testing athlete after athlete. Maybe he’s in a hurry. Maybe he just got done with one test. These tests took 12 to 15 minutes each. Breathing heavily without anything else is not enough.”
Thomas was also seen with an “a noticeable bulge” in his pants following the “puberty test,” according to authorities.
That observation “without more, does not magically transform this event into a sex assault,” MacDonald wrote in an October memorandum.
“Even if you gave the state the benefit of the doubt, that incident is outside the statute of limitations,” MacDonald said on Tuesday.
He also added both students consistently testified Thomas used “no sexual words or overtones, no hand or finger manipulation, no facial gestures consistent with anything” during the alleged incidents.
Prosecutors respond
However, prosecutors said Thomas’ intent “can be inferred from the surrounding circumstances,” according to a January court filing.
In court Monday, Healy said Thomas conducted the tests for decades without informing parents, administrators, and colleagues that students were in his presence, alone and naked, the Journal reported.
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Thomas also continued conducting the tests even after the school purchased a body composition testing machine and after a student complained in 2018, Healy said.
When questioned by authorities about the practice, Thomas lied to them, including when he said his “shy or not shy” question was only referring to having students take off just their undershirts, according to the newspaper.
“What’s his reason for lying?” asked Healy. “He’s trying to mask his intentions.”
Additionally, prosecutors have said the medical validity of the tests was disputed by two expert witnesses: Dr. Brett Slingsby, a child abuse pediatrician at Hasbro Hospital’s Aubin Child Protection Center, and Dr. Laurie Milliken, an associate professor of exercise and health sciences at UMass Boston.
MacDonald, on Tuesday, said, however, students told investigators they felt they benefited from the exams.
“The bottom line is that coach Thomas put a system in place for 28 years. Over 600 athletes went through the program,” he said.
Remarks that there is “no validity to this is in sharp contrast to the actual student athletes that went through the program,” he added.
Wilk-Thunberg is expected to make a decision on the motion to dismiss by April 15. Thomas is also facing a civil lawsuit filed by his former students.
The former coach resigned in 2021 after he was placed on paid leave for several months. He was hired later by Monsignor Clarke School, a Catholic school in South Kingstown, but was fired after the allegations were made public.
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