Ex-assistant football coach for northern Minnesota high school team charged with raping woman

A former assistant football coach for a northern Minnesota high school team has been charged with raping a woman in her apartment.

Ethan R. Hardy, 25, of Deer River, was charged Monday in Itasca County District Court with one count each of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with an assault of an acquaintance on Sept. 7, while Hardy was still a coach for Deer River High School.

A warrant has been issued for Hardy's arrest. Court records do not list an attorney for him, and messages have been left with Hardy seeking his response to the charges.

Head football coach Brent Schimek said Tuesday that Hardy left the team during the season a few weeks ago, after police began their investigation into the allegations. Schimek declined to say whether Hardy quit or was fired.

Under police questioning, Hardy denied being in the woman's apartment that night. He said he was at football practice early that evening, then went home, where "he was alone with his kids, and there were no other adults present," the criminal complaint read.

According to the complaint:

The woman told police that she was on a couch with Hardy at her apartment after a day of drinking alcohol. She said Hardy put something in her mouth that might have been a pill or candy, but she soon began to feel "loopy" and blacked out, the charges read.

Hardy then took her into her bedroom and raped her as she objected while going in and out of consciousness.

One of Hardy's neighbors told police that Hardy acknowledged being at the woman's apartment on the night of the assault but was too drunk to recall how he made it home.