Former Karate Coach Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault Charges

This post was reported and written by Arlington Patch Editor John Waller. 

A former Arlington karate coach has pleaded guilty to charges of sexually assaulting one of his young students.

Thomas Donahue, 53, the founder of T&P Martial Arts in Arlington, pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn to indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14 and enticement of a child under the age of 16, according to a Wednesday release from the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

Donahue, of Lexington, was sentenced by Middlesex Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman to two and a half years in jail to be followed by three years probation.

While on probation, Donahue won’t be allowed to have contact with the victim or the victim’s family, or unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16. He also won’t be allowed to engage in work – paid or volunteer – with children, and has to undergo a sex offender evaluation and treatment, comply with the requirements of the Sex Offender Registry and with GPS monitoring.

Donahue assaulted his student at T&P Martial Arts in 2011, according to authorities. On at least one occasion, he asked the student to meet him in his office after class to help him remove his leg brace, authorities said. When the student agreed to help him, he sexually assaulted her and then gave her candy and asked her not to tell anyone what he had done, authorities said.