Court documents detail victims' allegations of grooming, sexual abuse by North Texas figure skating coach
As a North Texas figure skating coach sits in the Collin County Jail charged with sexually assaulting two skaters, more details about his alleged behavior have come to light.
Court documents obtained by CBS News Texas on Wednesday outline some of the specific allegations against Benjamin Shroats, which Allen Police Department detectives learned from the victims themselves.
One of the victims was 16 when Shroats allegedly abused her. She told police that Shroats groped her chest in May or June of 2020 at a skating facility. She also told police that Shroats groped her crotch on three or four occasions and would make sexually suggestive comments towards her.
The other victim said she was sexually assaulted by Shroats when she was 18 and 19. She told police that the abuse occurred between December 2024 and September 2025, after knowing Shroats throughout her childhood and adolescence. Shroats would allegedly touch her buttocks during workouts and pressure her into meeting him alone. She also said that Shroats would instruct her to park her car on the top floor of a parking garage for sexual acts. The victim described Shroats' warning that both of their lives would be ruined if she reported him.
Police said Shroats' behavior with the older victim was "consistent with grooming by cultivating a long-term relationship of trust and authority" and gradually introducing sexually suggestive comments before escalating into inappropriate physical, and ultimately sexual, contact.
The documents show that when detectives interviewed Shroats before his arrest, he admitted to having a sexual relationship with the older victim. When presented with claims made by the victim, who was a minor, Shroats admitted to touching the victim's buttocks on several occasions and that he may have accidentally touched her breast "during what he described as horseplay." Detectives said that Shroats also claimed that the contact happened when the victim was an adult, and that he denied groping her groin.
Attorneys for victims, Shroats on the allegations
Zeke Fortenberry, an attorney representing the victims in a civil case, spoke with CBS News Texas on Tuesday. Fortenberry explained how the victims were especially vulnerable. "He was a specialty coach that helped them do lifts, acrobatics, and jumps, so these girls spent countless hours with him every week, multiple times a week," Fortenberry said.
After Shoats' arrest, Fortenberry said his clients' first reaction was relief. "They have been holding this in for so long. One of their biggest fears in coming forward was that no one would believe them, and so the swift work of the Allen Police Department to have a report on Feb. 15 and arrest on Feb. 17 is outstanding, and I think it's a testament to both police the police department's strong evidence against him," he said.
Shroats has not publicly commented on the allegations, but his attorney has released a statement which says in part, "Mr. Shroats unequivocally denies the allegations against him. As you are aware, criminal charges are accusations and not findings of guilt. The details of this case will be addressed in a courtroom, where evidence is evaluated under the law rather than in the court of public opinion."
