Charges: Eden Prairie Tae Kwon Do Instructor Sexually Abused Underage Female Student
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 32-year-old Eden Prairie man is in custody facing charges accusing him of sexually abusing an underage female student while he worked as a Tae Kwon Do instructor.
According to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, Hyobin Lee faces two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct of a victim between the ages of 13 to 15 years old in a position of authority.
The criminal complaint says Eden Prairie police were notified on Sept. 21 of a sexual abuse through a mandatory reporter in the Scott County School District. The now 17-year-old female victim said she was a student in a Tae Kwon Do studio located in Eden Prairie, a city where she also lived. She said she was a student of Lee's and that he had taken her virginity.
The victim said the abuse began in July 2018, three years after she began lessons from Lee. He allegedly would tell her in several of these incidents not to tell anyone about what was happening. She said interactions with Lee stopped in November 2018 when a new Taw Kwon Do studio location opened closer to her house and she began going there, according to the complaint.
Officers spoke with a witness, who was a previous instructor and employee at the same studio as Lee.
"The Witness described the Taw Kwon Do hierarchical system of doing things for your Master when asked. The Witness described this seemed to be taken too far at the Eden Prairie studio and it felt like a person 'needed' to or they would get into trouble," the complaint said.
Lee was arrested and taken into custody. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison and/or a $40,000 fine, plus a conditional release.
