ORLANDO, Fla. – A former Olympic-level figure skating coach accused of sexually assaulting one of his students has been arrested and booked into the Orange County jail.
Andrei Berekhovski trained up-and-coming figure skating superstars at the Ice Factory rink in Kissimmee and lived in Windermere and Orlando, according to court records.
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Berekhovski sexually abused at least one student in 2005, according to investigators with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
A separate civil lawsuit alleges Berekhovski “forcibly kissed” and sexually molested the victim, a 12-year-old girl, at a time when he was the child’s sole caretaker.
The lawsuit claims Berekhovski offered the victim one month of free training in exchange for her silence.
Sources close to the case told News 6 Berekhovski fled the country during an investigation in 2018 but was recently extradited back to the U.S. on an Interpol arrest warrant. Orange County Sheriff’s Office officials confirmed the information.
Berekhovski was also the subject of another investigation involving inappropriate contact with a minor in 2008, but the case wasn’t prosecuted after the child’s parents failed to return follow up calls.
In 2019, SafeSport, a nonprofit group dedicated to ending abuse in sports, placed Berekhovski on their discipline list. He was deemed “ineligible” to coach or participate in figure skating until further notice.
U.S. Figure Skating upheld the grievance and posted the disciplinary action on the organization’s website.
Court records show Berekhovski faces at least three charges related to sexual activity with a minor.