BELFAST, Maine — A man who formerly coached high school basketball on Islesboro will spend seven months in jail after pleading guilty to multiple counts of gross sexual assault and sexual exploitation of teenage girls.
Travis Tatro, 31, who used to live on the island but who has since moved to Portland, was sentenced Friday, Jan. 2, by Justice Robert Murray at Waldo County Superior Court. The judge decided the former coach would spend time behind bars despite receiving many letters from islanders, including a victim and her parents, asking Tatro not be incarcerated for his crimes.
“I do not deny that Travis has made mistakes, but I strongly believe that Travis’ faults can not be corrected by doing time of any kind,” the victim wrote. “He may require guidance and support, but not time locked up behind bars with others who are angry and broken themselves. I believe that therapy and education are the solutions in this case; he needs help, not handcuffs.”
The sentencing marks the end of a legal process that began when the former coach was arrested in October 2013 on sexual abuse charges. Tatro had been dismissed by Islesboro Central School in August 2013 — more than two years after the abuse began, according to the indictment handed down last February by the Waldo County Grand Jury.
He had been charged with 14 counts of class B gross sexual assault, eight counts of class B sexual exploitation of a minor, three counts of possession of sexually explicit material of a minor under 12 and assault. On Friday, he pleaded guilty to five counts of gross sexual assault, three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and assault.
All other charges were dismissed.
Murray sentenced him to five years in prison, with all but seven months suspended, and two years of probation after his release. According to court documents, Tatro’s probation conditions include that he have no contact with two of the three victims and complete a psychological evaluation.
While waiting for the case to be resolved, Tatro had a more unusual bail condition set last summer after he allegedly contacted one of the three teenage girls he assaulted. At that time, he was banned from Islesboro, an island with a year-round population of just a few hundred people.
Although many people wrote letters in support of Tatro, citing his kindness, good work ethic, commitment to island youths and other positive qualities, the court also received two very different letters from the other two young women he sexually assaulted.
One wrote that Tatro had been her coach and then the “relationship became more and more toxic.” She told the court Tatro used to comment negatively about her body, putting her on a strict diet and training her so hard that she nearly passed out in practice.
“He said that his intent was to ‘break me’ and push me to my final limits,” she wrote. “He broke me, for sure.”
She said she worked hard to hide what was really going on from others, including her family, who thought the world of Tatro.
“Behind closed doors, everything was far from perfect: I was hiding a mentally, emotionally and sexually abusive relationship with my coach and it was breaking me down,” she wrote.
The teenager eventually developed a dangerous eating disorder, became suicidal and grew panicky around men.
“Travis took away something that I will never get back: my developmental teenage years. … I can tell you I’ve been miserable, I can tell you I’ve been depressed, I can tell you I’ve had times when I didn’t want to be here anymore, but I don’t believe I can ever get across how much Travis has hurt me,” she said in the letter. “My biggest concern is to never let him hurt another girl like he did to myself and my teammates.”
The other teenaged victim wrote in her letter that her involvement with Tatro, beginning when she was 16, changed her personality and caused her to “lose herself.”
“Travis was a good looking young coach and I developed a crush on him. Travis responded in return,” she wrote. “However, in hindsight, this was not only something I wasn’t ready for but it was completely inappropriate.”
She went from being a “courageous, happy, motivated and a loving girl, to this depressed, uncertain and withdrawn young woman.” Tatro’s actions have cast a long shadow on her life, she said, adding she has struggled with depression, vivid nightmares, the loss of old friendships and uncertainty about the future.
“I would like to see Travis find the proper help that he needs,” she wrote. “He is an adult, and I believe that if he does not receive a substantial punishment for this he will feel that this is acceptable and continue to pursue young girls.”