Judge delays decision in Aaron Thomas case
SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A Superior Court judge delayed a decision on a motion to dismiss child molestation charges against former North Kingstown coach Aaron Thomas in the infamous “fat testing” scandal, citing a need to consider new information in the case.
The decision is now expected April 30.
State prosecutors charged Thomas in 2022 with one count of second-degree child molestation and one count of sexual assault after controversy erupted over his decades-long practice of having high school male athletes strip, often naked, for body-composition testing while alone with him.
During a court hearing last month on the motion for dismissal, defense lawyer John E. MacDonald said that while Thomas’ actions were “clearly questionable,” they didn’t rise to the level of criminality.
State prosecutor Timothy G. Healy told the judge that much of the case comes down to “what was the defendant’s intent,” and said there was ample inference of criminal wrongdoing when the evidence is viewed in totality.
The ‘naked fat testing’ scandal
Healy said Thomas conducted his naked fat testing for decades without ever divulging to students’ parents, faculty or school administrators that underage students were naked and alone with him.
Not only did Thomas lie to the police about performing testing on naked boys, Healy said, but he also lied about the common question he put to students prior to conducting the test: Were they “shy or not shy?”
Former students told investigators that if they answered not shy, the expectation was they would get naked. But Healy said Thomas told police the question pertained to them taking off only their undershirts.
And Healy said Thomas continued to perform the tests after 2018 after one student complained and the high school purchased a body-composition testing machine to eliminate any further manual testing.
Thomas’ lawyer: No evidence the tests were sexual in nature
In Thomas’ motion to dismiss the charges, his lawyers argue that “at no time did Mr. Thomas display evidence of sexual arousal, gratification or assault” – a necessity for finding anyone guilty of second-degree child molestation.
As part of the tests, former athletes said they would move their genitals out of the way so Thomas could use calipers to take measurements in their upper thigh area.
“The mere contact with an intimate body part during a body fat exam does not, in and or itself, transform this exam into a sexual assault,” Thomas’ lawyers argued.
Healy said there is evidence of Thomas “breathing heavily” in one instance when he touched a student’s upper thighs near his genitals, and another instance of Thomas allegedly being visibly aroused after touching around a naked student’s exposed genitals as the student sat on the floor with his legs spread.
Lawyers for Thomas have argued that the latter incident took place outside the three-year statute of limitations for second-degree sexual assault and should be barred from consideration.