(Updated 11/24 with more details about the fraud, statement from the school district.)
The seemingly never ending saga of Ken Stopkotte has a new chapter. This time, the turn takes us down I-65 from Indianapolis to Franklin County, Tennessee, where today he was arrested on eight counts of felony theft.
You will recall that Stopkotte is the former coach of the Fishers Area Swimming Tigers, and Fishers High School, who was suspended from USA-Swimming for 2 year, and Indiana Swimming for 5, over the summer after it was discovered that he had falsified swimmers’ results. He was also fined, and in exchanged spared his former club from the brunt of the punishment.
Though the amount of the fine was undisclosed, hopefully it was over $17,000, because that is the amount that Stopkotte has been accused of stealing from the Hamilton Southeastern Schools.
Along with his duty as Fishers High School head coach and the head coach of FAST, Stopkotte was also the high school’s pool manager from 2006-2010. During that time, a local YMCA was billed pool rental fees, which were supposed to be paid to the school district that owned the pool. Reasonable enough.
The school district charged the YMCA $500 a month over that four year period, though on at least three occassions hat fee was raised to $1000.
The problem is that an investigation by Fishers Police, which we first reported back in September, showed that no less than $16,950 of those rental fees were instead sent to multiple private bank accounts held at multiple banks.
Prior to this whole drama starting, Stopkotte accused USA-Swimming of being out to get him as a result of him being one of the most public critics of the sexual abuse investigations. This includes him claiming that he was removed as the coach of an Indiana Swimming All-Star squad because he spoke out against the governing body. It’s going to be hard to hold that line now that the Fishers Police Department has brought separate charges against him.
Besides the previous charges of changing times and ignoring DQ’s in official results, Stopkotte has also had his share of controversy at his other stops. This includes unconfirmed accusations that he engaged in unethical recruitment of swimmers while with the famed Cincinnati Marlins club.
If the theft is proven to be true, and possibly even if it isn’t, expect USA-Swimming to turn his suspension into a permanent ban: the highest punishment that USA-Swimming can hand out to its members.
The Southeastern Hamilton Schools released the following statement:
“We understand the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office has charged former Fishers High School Aquatic Director Ken Stopkotte with eight counts of theft. Stopkotte resigned from his position with the high school in August.
We discovered the potential theft in the course of our investigation that led to his resignation. We reported our concerns to the Fishers Police and, since that time, we have cooperated fully with the investigation.
We understand the charges stem from his use of our swimming pool and aquatic facilities for his own benefit. We are reviewing our procedures to see if they adequately protect the school district. As we have said before, we are disappointed when a person who serves in a position of trust in our school district does not uphold the highest standards of conduct and character.
We appreciate our local law enforcement’s investigation of this concern and support the judicial process.”