The former coach of gold medal-winning Team USA figure skater Amber Glenn has been arrested on sexual misconduct charges in northern Texas related to two athletes in his care.
Benjamin Shroats, 47, is facing one count of indecency with a child and one count of sexual assault.
Allen Police Department said in a statement: “The investigation began on February 15 after a report was filed alleging that Shroats had engaged in inappropriate relationships with two of his athletes, one of which reportedly began when the athlete was a minor.”
Scott Edgett, Shroats’s attorney, said: “Mr. Shroats unequivocally denies the allegations against him. Criminal charges are accusations and not findings of guilt.
“For the past 30 years, Mr. Shroats has been a well-respected figure skating coach/instructor in the local Dallas-Fort Worth community. Out of respect for the judicial process and potential future jurors, we will not be litigating this matter through media commentary.”
The Independent has contacted Edgett for further comment.
Per Fox 4, citing court records, Shroat was booked into the Collin County Jail, and the conditions of his $200,000 bond bar him from coaching and prevent him from having further contact with the alleged victims’ families.
Shroats, who coached at the Dallas Figure Skating Club in Allen, is best known for coaching Glenn, 26, a Plano native currently starring at the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, where she picked up gold as part of the team competition but fell short in her solo event, finishing a disappointing 13th.
Shroats joined Glenn’s coaching team when she was nine years old.
The athlete told Figure Skaters Online in 2014 while she was still a junior that Shroats is “like my rink dad or big brother, making sure I stay on track.”
“While he can be relaxed and chilled, he can also turn up the heat when needed,” she said. “I can completely rely on him to be organized and consistent.”
The Olympian is now coached by Damon Allen and Tammy Gambill.
In a letter to members of the Dallas Figure Skating Club, obtained by NBC 5, its president, Mary Pottenger, said: “We want our families to know we take concerns involving our members and the adult coaches who train them very seriously.”
Pottinger clarified that the club itself does not hire or supervise the private coaches who work with its skaters.
Glenn’s medal disappointment in Italy this week was met with gloating from conservatives back home, who had taken exception to her speaking out against President Donald Trump’s administration by saying America’s LGBTQ+ community was having “a hard time” because of his policies on gender.
She is by no means the only member of Team USA to speak out against the president, bringing hostility from Trump himself, Vice President JD Vance and other MAGA Republicans, as well as a debate about the true meaning of patriotism.
“There is nothing more patriotic than questioning your own country when its leadership makes decisions that are so sharply out of line with our values and traditions,” said Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons.
