A longtime track and field coach may have solidified his spot as the worst of all prep sports sexual predators when he violated his own parole from a sexual assault charge related to a relationship he had with a teen athlete by again texting and meeting with the teen … then trying to pass off the contact on his desire to give the teen in question an Easter basket.
In a truly disturbing incident, 43-year-old Wisconsin resident Scott Bergman was arrested for violating bond from an original arrest in connection with a relationship he had with a 17-year-old athlete. As covered by Eau Claire ABC affiliate WQOW and CBS affiliate WSAW, Bergman was arrested and charged in February for the initial charges of engaging in sexual contact with a teenage member of the Thorp (Wi.) High track team. At the time, Berman was released on bond provided that he not make contact with the teen again.
As it turns out, it took the coach less than a month to violate that bond, with the pair caught together at a church where they had planned to meet, according to monitored text messages between the two.
When Bergman was caught with the girl by area police, he defended his actions by saying that he just wanted to give her an Easter basket. Yet the prior trail of text messages showed that the two had been discussing their love for one another and plans to meet at the church where they were eventually discovered.
While Berman was already facing severe penalties for charges of sexual assault of a student by school staff and sexual intercourse with a child, those will now be augmented by felony bail jumping charges. Clearly, the longtime coach will not be going anywhere in public any time soon.
Given his actions with one of his former athletes, perhaps that’s for the best for everyone involved.
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