MANKATO, Minn. — A Minnesota football coach sidelined by accusations of child pornography involving his own children reacted with relief Friday after a judge dismissed the case, saying he was “thankful to be waking up from this nightmare.”
Todd Hoffner, the head coach at Minnesota State-Mankato, was effectively cleared when a judge agreed with his assertion that innocent family videos had been misinterpreted. He had been escorted off a football practice field and arrested in August after a university employee came across cell phone videos of his three children dancing and playing naked.
“My wife and I have anticipated this day for a very long time,” Hoffner said in a news conference at his attorneys’ offices. “It has finally taken a person with courage and authority to realize what these videos were.”
In her ruling released Friday, Blue Earth County District Judge Krista Jass said she didn’t find any evidence that the videos amounted to pornography.
Sports, Pages 23 on 12/01/2012