Former Winona high school teacher, coach pleads guilty to sexually assaulting 3 girls
A former Winona, Minnesota, high school teacher and track coach accused of having sex with several minor students pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal sexual conduct on Wednesday.
Eric Birth, 31, was charged in 2024 with four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with four separate victims, all of whom were members of the track team. As part of a plea deal, one count was dropped.
Birth is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7.
Charges came after, in June 2023, the Winona Police Department says it received an anonymous complaint that Birth had a sexual relationship with a former student while they were still in high school.
One victim told police that in one encounter with Birth in 2022, he pulled down his pants and forced her to give him oral sex while he held her head down. Two other victims reported having a sexual relationship with Birth, one in 2017 and another in 2016.
Birth has been employed at Winona Area Public Schools since April 2016 as a coach, according to the Minnesota Department of Education. He became a physical education teacher there in August 2021.