A former volleyball coach at Como Park High School in St. Paul has received a seven-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting one of his players.
Keng Cha, 31, of St. Paul was sentenced Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the encounters while he coached at Como Park.
With credit for time in jail after his arrest Cha, is expected to serve about 4¾ years in prison and the balance of his term on supervised release.
Police went to the high school and met with a 15-year-old girl who said she and Cha, her B-squad volleyball coach, had sex four times from October 2022 to September 2023 at various locations including in the school’s back parking lot.
She said the intercourse occurred in his vehicle either behind the school or one time in October 2022 when he picked her up at her house and drove to a spot near a lake.
As officers were speaking to the girl in the school office area, Cha was with the athletic director in the school being fired and at the same time texting her, “Why haven’t you been coming to games?” and “Did you say anything to anyone about us?” Officers found Cha and arrested him.
Cha told police his relationship with the girl progressed to him sexually assaulting her anywhere from two to four times, including in Battle Creek Park in St. Paul in December 2022 and the last time in his car near her house.
