A onetime figure skating coach accused of having dozens of sexual encounters with a teenage pupil pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of criminal sexual conduct and was recently accused of sexually touching and making overtures to a second teenage skater.
Twin Cities skating coach admits sexually abusing girl he instructed
The plea deal allows prosecutors to seek up to a 30-year sentence and nothing less than 12 years.
June 18, 2019 at 10:18PM
As his trial was to begin on nine counts of criminal sexual conduct, Thomas J. Incantalupo, 48, of St. Louis Park, admitted to one count each of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Incantalupo acknowledged in court to taking the girl to a hotel twice for sex while he worked with the Eden Prairie Figure Skating Club.
The deal allows prosecutors to seek up to a 30-year sentence and nothing less than 12 years. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 27.
The sexual abuse began in August 2015, when the girl was 14 and she traveled with Incantalupo to Connecticut for training. The abuse continued for more than two years on trips inside and outside of the United States.
Incantalupo would also take the girl from a rink in Eden Prairie to a hotel in that city, sexually abuse her and then return her to the rink in time for her parents to pick her up.
Eleven days before the guilty plea, prosecutors told the court and the defense that they intended to have a woman testify that while a teenager she was groped and pressured sexually for several years by Incantalupo when he was her coach.
At various times, he touched her inappropriately, under the guise of giving massages, according to the prosecution's court filing. He also tried to forcibly kiss her when she was 19 years old. She refused and stopped skating with him, the filing read.
Incantalupo had been coaching since 1990, is a master-rated freeskate coach and was a coach for Team USA in 2008 and 2010, according to a now-deleted page on the figure skating club website. His bio states he also did performances on NBC, CBS and MTV, and was an "Honor Roll" coach with the Professional Skaters Association in 2008, 2010 and 2016.
According to Incantalupo's Facebook page, he had been with the Eden Prairie club since 2016.
In 2008, the Star Tribune wrote about Incantalupo when he was a coach at the St. Paul Figure Skating Club. Before that, he was a coach in Des Moines, where he trained a skater who made it to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
When the girl traveled to compete, Incantalupo would often go alone with her and be responsible for her care.
During a trip to Connecticut in August 2015, he began abusing her when she was sleeping at the home of another coach. He forced the girl to have oral sex and told her not to tell anyone.
Incantalupo assaulted the girl at least 40 more times until January 2018, when she told a friend about the abuse. Investigators set up a meeting at the Eden Prairie rink and recorded a conversation between the girl and Incantalupo. He told her she was "the love of his life" and knew he risked being locked up. Police then arrested Incantalupo.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
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