Key Takeaways
- Aaron Hjermstad, a convicted predator, used trusted roles within schools and youth sports to gain long-term access to children.
- Reports of abuse surfaced years before criminal convictions, yet meaningful safeguards were not enforced.
- Hjermstad was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
- In 2025, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that public schools can be held civilly liable for hiring decisions, based on the sexual abuse litigation involving Aaron Hjermstad.
Aaron Hjermstad spent years in positions that should have demanded high levels of trust.
He was a youth basketball coach and volunteer, a physical education teacher, an athletic director, and a long-time leader within Minnesota charter school communities. He was viewed as a well-connected and respected figure, described as “loved” within the community.
That reputation would later prove inconsistent with the facts established in criminal court.
Described in media reports as one of Minnesota’s most prolific child abusers, Hjermstad entered guilty pleas in child sexual abuse cases and was ultimately sentenced to life in prison.
His case did not unfold quickly or in isolation.
Instead, it spanned over a decade and involved early warning signs, reports, repeated opportunities to intervene, and systemic failures which allowed him continued access to children.
Who Was Aaron Hjermstad?
For nearly 15 years, beginning in 2001, Hjermstad worked at Excell Academy Charter School, which he helped found. He was a physical education teacher and athletic director. He also held significant leadership roles, including more than a decade as a school board member and several years as board chair. Hjermstad also volunteered as a basketball and baseball coach with Hospitality House Youth Development, a non-profit organization in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He ran a traveling basketball team, organizing trips across the country and hosting “team sleepovers” at his residence.
Early Concerns Before Criminal Charges
Concerns about Hjermstad’s conduct surfaced years before his convictions.
In 2013 or 2014, a parent reported to Excell leadership that Hjermstad had taken a student to his home following a school-related activity without the parent’s consent. Sometime before May 2015, school leadership instructed him that students were not permitted to sleep overnight at his home, signaling awareness of boundary issues.
Despite this, Hjermstad continued working closely with children.
The First Known Abuse Report (2015)
In May 2015, a 12-year-old student at Excell reported that Hjermstad had sexually abused him on three different occasions. According to court documents, this happened “at least once when he and several other students were sleeping over at Hjermstad’s house. Excell had previously told Hjermstad that he was not allowed to have students sleep at his house.”
In response to the allegations, Excell placed Hjermstad on administrative leave and chose not to renew his employment contract for the next school year.
“Hospitality House, the faith-based nonprofit in north Minneapolis where Hjermstad volunteered as a basketball coach, placed Hjermstad on leave after…the abuse allegations. Hospitality House conducted its own investigation into the allegations, but later reinstated Hjermstad, according to court documents.” (Sahan Journal)
Hospitality House leadership pointed to Hjermstad’s years of coaching experience, the number of youth he had worked with, “with no known issues,” and the decision not to prosecute at the time as reasons for supporting his reinstatement.
Ultimately, according to the Sahan Journal, “Hospitality House allowed Hjermstad to return with several conditions, and made him sign a document promising not to host any more sleepovers for Hospitality House children at his home.”
The Minnesota Department of Education likewise investigated Hjermstad following the report but closed the matter without taking action. Court records indicate the department noted “that some witnesses may have had information but declined to come forward “because of cultural taboos against homosexual contact in their culture.’” (Sahan Journal)
Additional details about these investigations are available here.
Hjermstad is Hired at Mastery School (2016)
In 2016, Hjermstad was hired as a physical education teacher at Mastery School, which later merged with Best Academy into Harvest Best Academy.
Court records show that the hiring process failed to follow basic safeguards.
During the interview with Hjermstad, the principal, Pamela Bump, asked Hjermstad why he had left Excell. According to court records, “Hjermstad told her that his contract was not renewed due to budget cuts.” The principal believed he was a strong candidate because of his years teaching, volunteering, and coaching, and his previous involvement as a charter school board member.
Court records indicate that key steps in Hjermstad’s hiring process were not completed.
For example, “On his job application, Hjermstad did not answer two questions: (1) the reason for leaving Excell, and (2) whether the school could contact Excell.” (Justia)
He submitted references but did not provide required reference letters and asked whether they were “really necessary.” It does not appear that he ever provided them.
Notably, none of Hjermstad’s listed references were supervisors, and court records show that neither Excell Academy nor Hospitality House was contacted before he was hired.
Shortly after being hired, Hjermstad began coaching a joint basketball team involving 5th and 6th graders for Mastery and Best Academy. There is no indication that additional screening occurred before he took on that coaching role. During this time, Hjermstad hosted players at his home for sleepovers, a practice that was known to at least one other coach.
Court records reflect that Hjermstad sexually abused a child at least once during one of those overnight stays, but the abuse was not reported at the time.
Hjermstad Is Arrested (2020)
Beginning in March 2020, three additional boys who had been coached by Hjermstad at Harvest Best Academy and Hospitality House came forward with reports of sexual abuse occurring between 2016 and 2020. These disclosures involved children who were different from those identified during the 2015 investigation.
Separately, “On March 5, 2020, Emily Peterson, the interim head of the Mastery School (now consolidated with Harvest Best), filed a police report upon receiving a complaint from a student. This was the first time school leadership had heard allegations of Hjermstad’s inappropriate behavior with minors, according to court documents.” (Sahan Journal)
Hjermstad was placed on administrative leave and later terminated after refusing to participate in an internal investigation from the school. Law enforcement proceeded with its own investigation, and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office filed multiple charges, including criminal sexual conduct and soliciting a child to engage in a sexual act, in connection with four victims.
Arrest in Idaho and Resulting Criminal Sentences
In 2021, Hjermstad was convicted in Minnesota of criminal sexual conduct involving four children he coached. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for those offenses.
After fleeing Minnesota while out on bail, Hjermstad was stopped by law enforcement in Idaho in late 2021. During the traffic stop, Idaho State Police Corporal Jared Shively recovered multiple electronic devices, including digital memory cards and laptops, along with court documents. He also found a handwritten list containing the names of approximately 200 children.
“Shively said some of the names had asterisks next to them, and that the paper had the phrase, ‘slept in Aaron’s bed,’ written on it to indicate the meaning behind the asterisks.” (Sahan Journal)
Review of the evidence uncovered thousands of videos documenting Hjermstad’s sexual abuse of children, including recordings made at Hjermstad’s Brooklyn Center home. The videos contained 127 different sets of initials.
This investigation led to additional criminal charges. Hjermstad later entered guilty pleas to twelve counts of criminal sexual conduct with 12 additional children between 2013 and 2020. In November 2025, he was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty called the abuse “nothing short of horrifying.”
Minnesota Supreme Court Ruling
Hjermstad’s hiring by Mastery School, later Best Academy, led to a landmark Minnesota Supreme Court ruling in February 2025. The Court held that charter schools can be held civilly liable for hiring decisions in sexual abuse cases, rejecting the notion that such decisions are automatically protected by governmental immunity.
The Court overturned lower court rulings and emphasized that immunity depends on context, noting that required reference checks were not completed. The case reinforces that schools may be held accountable when hiring failures place children at risk.
The Reality of the “Trusted” Coach
For years, Hjermstad was not viewed as an obvious threat by many. He was deeply embedded in school and youth sports communities and was regarded as trustworthy by his peers. His reputation shielded him from accountability and allowed him continued access to children.
What was later exposed in criminal court tells a far darker story. Behind the image of a dedicated coach and educator, Hjermstad was repeatedly sexually abusing children.
His case illustrates a deeply disturbing reality: some of the most dangerous offenders are not outsiders, but authority figures who exploit trust, access, and institutional failures to commit abuse over long periods of time.
This dynamic is tragically common in child sexual abuse cases. When allegations involve someone viewed as “respected” or “loved,” disbelief and hesitation from other authorities often follow. Those delays can protect the perpetrator and leave children at continued risk.
Civil Accountability and Institutional Responsibility
Criminal cases, like Hjermstad’s, are designed to punish offenders and protect others from future harm.
Civil cases focus on accountability, examining how abuse was allowed to occur and whether institutions failed in their duty to protect children.
In cases like this, civil litigation may examine whether schools, youth programs, or other organizations:
- Ignored warning signs or boundary violations
- Failed to properly screen, train, or supervise staff
- Allowed unsafe practices, such as unsupervised access or overnight stays, to continue
- Missed clear opportunities to intervene and prevent further harm
The Minnesota Supreme Court’s ruling connected to Hjermstad’s hiring reinforces a critical principle: institutions cannot automatically shield themselves from responsibility when basic safeguards are ignored.
When preventable failures place children at risk, civil law provides a path to answers, accountability, and change.
Support and Legal Options for Survivors
If you or someone you love was harmed by Aaron Hjermstad—or by another coach, teacher, or authority figure—you are not alone.
Andreozzi + Foote is a nationally recognized civil law firm dedicated to representing survivors of sexual abuse, assault, and exploitation. Our attorneys focus on uncovering institutional failures and holding organizations accountable when systems meant to protect children break down.
You deserve accountability and justice. You deserve to be heard. Our attorneys are ready to listen.
All consultations are free and completely confidential.
Contact us today.
Image sources: Aaron James Hjermstad, courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, via MPR News.
