A former Kenai Peninsula youth hockey coach has been charged with sexually abusing a minor in 2019. Alaska State Troopers say 31-year-old Jonas Perletti sexually abused a family friend in a private residence when she was 14.
Charging documents say the person who reported the sexual abuse, now an adult, contacted troopers about it early last year. According to the charges filed against Perletti last Friday, the woman says she did not reciprocate the unwanted sexual contact at the time and later felt confused and like she would get in trouble.
Troopers say that in the years since the alleged abuse occurred, the woman learned Perletti had been the subject of two complaints by parents who knew him as a hockey coach with the Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association. The charges say troopers independently confirmed that two parents had complained about Perletti’s conduct with their underage daughters while they were hockey players. Criminal charges were not filed in response to either complaint.
Troopers say they interviewed Perletti, who now lives in Utah, before charging him with child sexual abuse. The charges say Perletti “acknowledged inappropriate conduct” and corroborated some details of the woman’s account. Troopers say Perletti also refuted some details about the allegations made against him in 2021, when he was still a hockey coach.
The Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association did not respond to a request for comment, or to specific questions about whether Perletti faced any disciplinary action in response to the complaints made against him and the circumstances of his departure from the youth hockey program.
Perletti’s lawyer also did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the program’s website, the Kenai Peninsula Hockey Association currently requires all coaches, managers, locker room monitors and other volunteers to complete USA Hockey’s SafeSport Training. That’s an annual, free training program that aims to prevent abuse. The U.S. Center for SafeSport also maintains a database of member misconduct that did not show Perletti’s name Wednesday.
Perletti has been issued a summons to return to Alaska. He is scheduled to make an initial appearance in the case at the Kenai Courthouse later this month.
