A former basketball coach from Farmington High School, Jerremy Thompkins, was sentenced to state prison after convictions of sexually assaulting two teenage students, as reported by ClickOnDetroit. The 43-year-old Detroit resident will serve a concurrent sentence of 4 to 15 years for second-degree criminal sexual conduct and 1 to 2 years for fourth-degree, with credit for 36 days already served.
The assaults on the two boys, aged 15 and 16, took place in Thompkins' home between August and October of last year, during the same period he was employed as the boys' junior varsity basketball coach, though he was terminated from his position on October 9, the allegations had begun to circulate and a concerned parent brought the situation to the school's attention, Thompkins wasn't arrested until October 24, 2023. The Detroit News reports that alongside Thompkins, the district fired three other coaches linked to the case for failure to report the known interactions between Thompkins and the student athletes.
Emphasizing the severity of the crimes, one victim recounted his experience, detailing how an alleged stretching session evolved into a harrowing assault; "I’m sitting there scared. I didn’t know what to do. I'm just sitting there scared, hoping I could make it home," he described the ordeal during proceedings, a story which was relayed by Hoodline. This wasn't Thompkins' first felony charge with similar accusations tracing back to 2008 involving another teenage boy.
