MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | Former Minnesota Deaf-School Teacher Charged in Sexual Assault Alleged to Have Occurred Four Decades Ago

FARIBAULT, MN (September 22, 2026). A former teacher and wrestling coach at the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf has been charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct involving a student who says he was assaulted approximately four decades ago.

The Rice County Attorney’s Office filed the charges September 18 against David Arthur Rohm, a former employee of the state-operated school in Faribault.

According to the criminal complaint, the alleged victim was between 13 and 15 years old when the conduct occurred sometime between September 1985 and June 1988.

Rohm was the student’s teacher and wrestling coach, placing him in a position of authority, the complaint alleges.

The former student contacted Faribault police approximately 40 years after the reported assault. He told investigators that Rohm’s physical contact with him had become increasingly inappropriate during his freshman year.

The complaint alleges that the assault occurred in tunnels located on the school grounds. Wrestlers sometimes ran through the tunnels while wearing rubber suits to lose weight before competitions.

The student told investigators that Rohm required him to continue running after the other wrestlers had finished, even though he was not above his assigned weight. The complaint describes sexual conduct allegedly committed after the student completed another lap.

The former student also told investigators that Rohm later warned him not to disclose what had happened.

Detectives began investigating the report in 2025. A review of school personnel records confirmed that Rohm worked as a teacher and coach during the period identified by the former student.

Investigators traveled to Tennessee in August 2026 to interview Rohm. According to the complaint, Rohm confirmed that wrestlers ran in the tunnels to lose weight. He identified himself in historical team photographs but said he could not identify or remember the other people pictured.

Rohm lives in Jackson, Tennessee, and was on federal supervised release when the Minnesota investigation was conducted.

Federal court records show that Rohm previously pleaded guilty in Tennessee to receiving DVDs containing sexually explicit images of minor boys. He was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.

Rice County prosecutors requested a warrant for his arrest because he resides outside Minnesota.

One new count carries a maximum possible penalty of 30 years in prison and a $40,000 fine. The second carries a maximum of 15 years and a $30,000 fine. Maximum penalties do not determine what sentence would be imposed following a conviction.

The allegations have not been proven in court. Rohm is presumed innocent unless and until he is convicted.

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