Former Winnipeg high school football coach pleads guilty to 11 sexual abuse charges
CBC
WARNING | This story contains graphic details.
A former Winnipeg high school football coach and teacher has pleaded guilty to 11 charges related to sexual abuse of former players who were minors at the time.
Kelsey McKay, 53, was arrested on April 12, 2022. He was charged with a total of 30 offences related to the sexual exploitation of minors while he worked as a teacher and coached football at Vincent Massey Collegiate and Churchill High School for more than two decades.
McKay pleaded guilty to nine counts of sexual assault and two amended charges of luring at a Manitoba provincial court hearing on Thursday before Judge Malcolm McDonald.
The other charges were stayed.
Because of his guilty plea, there will not be a trial. McKay will be sentenced at an upcoming hearing.
McKay will be on the provincial sex offender registry for 20 years, and will have to submit to a DNA order.
Police previously said former students and players, who are now adults, reported that when they were teens, the coach formed exploitative relationships with them, and sexual offences took place at his home.
"Others who coached with McKay, or helped with his teams over the years, noticed unusually close relationships he had with certain players, and knew that he had them over to his house and texted regularly with many of them," Crown attorney Katie Dojack told the court Thursday, as she read from an agreed statement of facts.
"Since all this behaviour was public knowledge, few viewed it as a red flag."
Investigators heard that McKay seemed to provide "special treatment" to youth with absent parents or families with struggles in the home, Dojack said.
McKay, who was represented by defence lawyer Josh Weinstein, remained mostly silent in court Thursday as she laid out the details and timelines of each charge for the better part of an hour.
Court heard he gave massages to more than one player at his home, and had them over to watch movies and football and use his hot tub. At various times he touched their genitals, talked about sexual preferences and showed pornography, Dojack said.
She said he took some of them out for meals and to movies. McKay did the same with a parent who years later admitted to missing "many red flags" because the coach seemed like a positive role model for kids, Dojack said.
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