In March, former Fishers, Indiana swim coach Ken Stopkotte was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bank larceny, money laundering, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The allegations against Stopkotte were that he stole $181,608.52 in donations from different churches in the Nashville area.
The IndyStar reported that on Monday, Stopkotte was sentenced to 45 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. In addition to serving jail time, he has also been ordered to pay back nearly $170,000 to his victims. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the maximum sentence could have included 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of bank larceny; and 20 years and $500,000 on the access device charge. In addition, there could have been a “mandatory minimum sentence of two years on the aggravated identity theft charge which must be served consecutively to the prison term received for the access device offense.”
Stopkotte is a former Indiana swim coach of a successful Fishers Area Swimming Tigers team, but his involvement in the swimming story in the last half-decade goes far beyond just coaching.
Stopkotte was one of the coaches who spoke on camera on ABC’s 20/20, then was suspended on a settlement with USA Swimming surrounding time falsifications; then was charged with and had charges dropped on 8 Class D Felonies for theft from the Hamilton Southeastern School District surrounding pool rental fees.
Stopkotte and his attorneys maintained throughout that the dispute with USA Swimming was a result of his public outcry against USA Swimming’s handling of sexual abuse. His former attorney Jonathan Little said to a local ABC affiliate that “There is no excuse for theft and if Ken did indeed commit theft, he will have to deal with those consequences. The indictment does not change the fact that the Hamilton Southeastern School Corporation falsely accused Ken of numerous felonies, rendering him unemployable for over 18 months.”
Little also accused several parties, including USA Swimming, of having “cowardly avoided responsibility for their role in ruining Ken’s reputation and life.”
Stopkotte was arrested by Mexican police in July of 2013 in Guadalajara for being in the country illegally. He failed to appear in court in April of 2013, and was on the run since.