A man already serving a prison sentence for sexually assaulting children has been indicted by a grand jury on 12 additional counts of criminal sexual conduct.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) announced on Thursday a grand jury indictment of 12 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct against Aaron Hjermstad, a former coach and teacher at two Minneapolis charter schools.

All 12 victims were under the age of 13, and the assaults occurred from 2013 to 2021. Authorities state that he had coached many of the children or one of their relatives.

Prosecutors say Hjermstad was a physical education and health teacher at The Mastery School and a basketball coach at Hospitality House Youth Development and Harvest Best Academy. He is already in prison on a 12-year sentence for sexually assaulting four boys he coached.

Before the sentencing on those cases, Hjermstad left the state but was pulled over and apprehended in Idaho in December 2021. During the traffic stop, officials found thousands of videos of Hjermstad assaulting children, with some incidents taking place at his home in Brooklyn Center.

Idaho investigators turned the case over to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) for investigation.

“The number of children who were sexually assaulted by Hjermstad is horrific,” said Hennepin County
Attorney Mary Moriarty. “Hjermstad intentionally harmed children who had every right to trust him as
their teacher and coach. We will seek lengthy prison sentences to keep children in our community safe.”

Each count carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

The HCAO and BCA are asking anyone else who was a victim of Hjermstad to come forward and receive support and resources.

“As a community we must do more to help abused children come forward and to provide resources to
heal the harm inflicted upon them,” Moriarty said. “Abuse is never a child’s fault.”

Harvest Best Academy released the following statement regarding the indictment:

“The allegations in the indictment are deeply disturbing, and Harvest Best Academy is heartbroken by the harm Aaron Hjermstad has caused to our students and other victims. These new charges are an important step in holding him accountable and ensuring that justice is served.

We want to clarify that Aaron Hjermstad was never employed by Harvest Best Academy. He volunteered as a basketball coach for Best Academy from 2015 to 2020. The allegations span a time period involving possible victims who were not students at our school. We are actively gathering facts, but our hearts go out to everyone affected by these alleged heinous acts.

At Harvest Best Academy, our priority is creating a safe and supportive environment for all students to thrive. We take the hiring process very seriously and adhere to all state requirements for background checks. We regret that the state-run system we rely on did not provide updated information that would have disqualified Hjermstad from volunteering and prevented him from causing further harm.

Harvest Best Academy is a tuition-free public charter school in Minneapolis, dedicated to building strong foundations for students to graduate from high school, succeed in college, and pursue meaningful careers. As one of Minnesota’s highest-performing schools for African American students, we foster a culture of high expectations and celebrate academic achievement.”

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to Hospitality House Youth Development for comment but have not yet heard back.

RELATED: Basketball coach charged with sexually assaulting players was previously investigated

This comes after a former teacher from Harvest Best Academy was recently charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old in 2016 and 2017.