LAKELAND, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) said a former gymnastics coach was arrested Wednesday after he admitted to having sexual intercourse with a minor he used to coach.
PCSO said the investigation began as a missing person case when detectives were trying to locate the now-adult victim after she failed to participate in a court-ordered detox program.
Deputies said the victim was found in the Lakeland home of 28-year-old Alexander Katchalov, her former gymnastics coach at Elite World Gymnastics.
Deputies reported Katchalov admitted he had sexual intercourse with her two times when she was 15 years old.
Katchalov was already designated as a sexual offender and on probation after he was convicted of possessing child pornography in 2017, per PCSO's report
On July 16, Katchalov was arrested and charged with lewd battery, failure to comply with sex offender registration and violating his probation.
ABC Action News is using his mugshot because of the suspect's former roles as a coach and because the PCSO said there could be more victims out there.
PCSO is asking for anyone who has been victimized by the suspect to contact detectives in PCSO's Special Victims Unit.
This is an ongoing investigation.
Tampa Bay 28 Mugshot Policy
When a mugshot is used
If the person is still on the loose and a potential threat to the community; if there is a good chance that showing the suspect would help identify additional victims or otherwise protect the public from a serious threat or if the crime or the suspect is of such a significant note that seeing them in a mugshot is in the greater public interest.
Using previous mugshots
Only if the story is specifically talking about that previous crime
We do not show mugshots of victims
This policy started in early 2021
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