BELFAST, Maine — The former assistant coach of the Portland Pirates hockey team was sentenced Wednesday at Waldo County Superior Court to two months in jail after pleading no contest to a charge of sexual misconduct with a 13-year-old girl.
Michael Minard, 37, who lived in Falmouth until recently, came to the attention of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office in January after the mother of a 13-year-old Waldo County girl came forward to report her daughter had received inappropriate text messages. The girl met Minard last November, when she sat behind the players’ box at a game of the minor-league professional hockey team, according to a report from the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office that was filed at court.
She posted to the Twitter social media site that she was trying to take photographs during the game but Minard kept getting in the way. Minard apparently saw that message and sent her a private message to apologize. The two began to send messages back and forth, initially talking about players and games, then they moved to text messages that were more personal, according to the police report. The girl told police she told him her age “numerous times,” the police report said, and Minard reportedly asked her to send him “selfies” after Christmas.
The girl said the assistant coach became more sexual in their texts, asking her about boys and what she had done with them, as far as kissing and sexual acts. The girl told police she had no sexual experience and made things up so Minard wouldn’t be disappointed. He sent her information about the girls he had been involved with and sexual acts he performed with them, the report said. He asked her for pictures with less clothes on, and she sent several of her in her underwear and of her covering her breasts with just her hands, according to Detective Gerry Lincoln of the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office.
She told police Minard sent her a photo of his genitals and said the texts became more sexual in nature after that.
Eventually, her mother took the girl’s cellphone away and contacted police. Maine State Police forensic analyst Dawn Ego searched the cellphones of the 13-year-old girl and her friend, who also had been messaging back and forth with Minard. Ego recovered several messages and photographs but not one that showed his genitals.
According to a Maine State Police continuation report, Minard was with the hockey team at a Bangor hotel at one point and wanted the two girls to find a way to come visit him there. Detective Jason Bosco said he went to a hockey team practice in Saco on Feb. 19 to interview Minard.
“Mike said he knew what he did was wrong and that he got caught up in the excitement and fantasy of it all,” Bosco wrote in his report. “Mike said that he was having inappropriate sexual conversations with [the girl] via text messages.”
The detective wrote Minard also admitted to sending a picture of his genitals to the girl.
Minard also said he was never alone with the teen, according to Bosco’s report: “Even though they had discussions about having sex and doing sexual things to one another, he said that he would never have followed through with it.”
Minard was very cooperative with police, Bosco wrote, adding the coach was fired Feb. 20 from the Portland Pirates organization. A few days later, Minard was issued summonses for solicitation of a child to commit a prohibited act and for sexual misconduct with a child under the age of 14.
In addition to the 60-day jail sentence, Justice Robert Murray ordered Minard, who since has moved to Hamilton, Ontario, with his family, to pay restitution.
To reach a sexual assault advocate, call the Statewide Sexual Assault Crisis and Support Line at 800-871-7741, TTY 888-458-5599. This free and confidential 24-hour service is accessible from anywhere in Maine. Calls are automatically routed to the closest sexual violence service provider.