A former Edmonton Olympic Track and Field Club coach has been charged with historical sex offences against five teen males dating back to the mid-1970s.
Kenneth Thomas Porter, 72, who lives in Ottawa, was charged Monday with five counts of indecent assault on a male and five counts of gross indecency as laid out in the Criminal Code at that time, Edmonton police said in a release Tuesday night.
Porter has since been released on a promise to appear. He is next scheduled to appear in an Edmonton court on Dec. 7.
Police allege the incidents happened during track meets held in Calgary and Edmonton between 1976 and 1980.
The teens were under his supervision at the time, police said.
Sexual assault investigators formally launched an investigation into the allegations surrounding Porter in April 2019.
In May 2019, Porter was fired as the chair of the Ottawa Lions track and field club and handed a lifetime ban by Athletics Canada after numerous complaints of sexual misconduct began to surface.
Athletics Canada’s commissioner Frank Fowlie at the time also issued a lifetime ban against Ottawa track and field coach Andy McInnis for sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations.
It is alleged the two men had been friends or had known each other for more than 40 years.
Porter was initially suspended for not taking “adequate remedial action” against his friend when he had knowledge that McInnis would be coaching club athletes, CBC reported at the time.
Following the suspensions, nine men came forward to allege that Porter sexually interfered with them, according to a report by Fowlie.
