A former assistant girls’ wrestling coach from Wyoming Seminary was arraigned Friday on sexual assault charges. The charges stem from an incident where she allegedly massaged a 15-year-old female wrestler’s buttocks.

Nina pham, 25, of Kingston, admitted to massaging the girl during questioning by Cornell Robinson, the school’s director of wrestling. According to an arrest affidavit, Pham told Robinson that if she touched the girl’s buttocks, it was unintentional.

The alleged victim told police that she never requested a massage and “felt increasingly uncomfortable” as it continued, according to the affidavit.

Facing Charges of Institutional Sexual Assault and Indecent Assault

Kingston Police Detective Stephen Gibson has charged Pham with institutional sexual assault and indecent assault of a person under the age of 16.

Wyoming Seminary has terminated Pham’s employment.

“Wyoming Seminary is aware of an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a coach and has cooperated fully with authorities in the examination,”

According to the affidavit,the incident occurred on either February 19 or 20. Though,police did not receive a referral on the case from Childline and through the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office until April 10.

During an interview on April 14, the girl informed Gibson that she was in a gym trying to lose weight to meet her designated wrestling weight level.

Pham opened the gym door for her.

After completing her workout, the girl sat against a wall. According to the affidavit, Pham “approached her and instructed her to ‘get down.'”

The girl then laid on her stomach, and Pham massaged her buttocks over her clothing, she told Gibson.

Affidavit Details: Massage Stopped When Others Entered the Gym

According to the affidavit, Pham ceased the massage and stepped back when two individuals entered the gym.

Both witnesses reportedly saw Pham rub the girl’s buttocks.

The witnesses stated that when the coach noticed them, she stopped the massage and told the girl to “check her weight.”

Gibson wrote in the affidavit, “One person also mentioned that he had observed coach Pham frequently present in the gym and in the vicinity of (the girl) every time she was there, but not necessarily when other girls were there.”

Gibson also reported that Bret Fry, the school’s former girls wrestling head coach, corroborated the assault story. Fry had reported the incident to Robinson.

In his interview with Gibson, Robinson described pham as “socially awkward” and stated that the young wrestler told him pham massaged her lower back, buttocks, and legs.

Fry, who recruited Pham to coach at the school, was named head women’s wrestling coach at King University in Bristol, Tennessee, in April.Since Fry became coach in 2021, his Wyoming Seminary teams have won two national prep school championships.