Lethbridge gymnastics coach facing more sexual assault charges

Parents react to new charges against coach An ex-coach at a Lethbridge gymnastics club is facing more sexual assault charges. Quinn Keenan spoke with the parents of some students.

A Lethbridge gymnastics coach accused of sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl he coached is now facing additional charges.

Jamie Ellacott, 33, was arrested on July 12 and charged with sexual assault and sexual interference.

Lethbridge police say further investigation has identified three more young girls from the same facility, the Lethbridge Gymnastics Academy, who reported being sexually assaulted during sessions in May 2022.

Police say the victims were 10, 12 and 14-years-old.

Officers arrested Ellacott again on Wednesday.

He is now facing three more counts of sexual assault and three more counts of sexual interference.

Mallory Kristjanson is the mother of a student who was enrolled at the camp before the original charges. She pulled her child out of the camp before they attended but is fighting to get a refund.

“Heart broken," she said. "That there's three more children impacted by this man's actions. One was too many.”

“They've actually refused any of my phone calls, they haven't returned any of my phone calls," she added. "Parents who wrote very thorough emails challenging their refund policy have not also had any response back whatsoever."

SUPPORT CHILDREN

“You want to be supportive of anyone who's involved in these cases," said Kristine Cass,  the CEO of the Chinook Sexual assault centre. "Again we need to support children when they're coming forward, anyone when they're coming forward that is talking about harms that have been done to them. We have to take them seriously.”

“(There needs to be) two people there when you're in a dressing room especially. We have to touch people when we're doing athletics to show where things like the foot needs to be placed and things like this," she said. "But how you introduce the touch and how you do certain things is quite prescriptive.”

Ellacott was released from custody but must follow several conditions, including not having contact with any of the victims or witnesses.

He is scheduled to appear in court on the new charges on Aug. 31.

Investigators are asking anyone with information on the investigation to call police at 403-328-4444 and reference file 22014303.

With files from Quinn Keenan