Eden Prairie Ex-Wrestling Coach Sexually Assaulted Girl: Police

EDEN PRAIRIE, MN — A former Eden Prairie wrestling coach has been accused of sexually assaulting a young girl he coached, authorities said.

Mustafa Shabazz, 43, was charged by summons Tuesday with a single count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance June 1.

According to the criminal complaint, police in Shakopee and Eden Prairie began investigating Shabazz in February.

Police said the girl, a resident of Hennepin County, was 9 when she began wrestling with Shabazz as her coach in early 2018 in Eden Prairie.

By spring 2019, after recovering from an injury, the girl refused to return to wrestling, authorities said. Several months later, she told a friend and then her parents that Shabazz had touched her inappropriately, according to the complaint.

The girl told investigators that Shabazz would touch her inappropriately while demonstrating wrestling moves, police said. She said he told her it was an accident but that it kept happening over the months she was there, the complaint states.

Last summer, another adolescent girl reported that Shabazz would give her tight hugs and caress her back while they were at wrestling tournaments around the state, according to police. She said the actions made her uncomfortable, investigators said.