((HT: CBC Sports))Former junior hockey coach and NHL player agent David Frost ((pictured, thanks Adrian Wyld/CP)), who had been charged with four counts of sexual exploitation, was acquitted on Friday of all charges by an Ontario court judge in the town of Napanee.
Frost was found not guilty by a judge, in cases arising from his term as coach of the junior A Quinte Hawks club in Eastern Ontario in 1996 and 1997.
The charges stemmed from alleged incidents involving two former Hawks players he coached.
The young women who dated the players when they were 16 gave emotional testimony during the trial, contending Frost masterminded and participated in sexual threesomes with the Hawks players and their teenage girlfriends.
One of the women said Frost, age 29 at the time, persisted in having group sex with her and her boyfriend for a number of years.
The defence conceded that group sex is common among hockey players, but vehemently denied Frost ever took part in the sex acts.
Judge Geoff Griffin of the Ontario Court of Justice cleared Frost of the charges, adding the trial "exposed a dark and very unhealthy side of hockey."
"It's extremely offensive and must be denounced," Griffin said in giving his verdict.
The women testified that Frost held great power over the young players and controlled every part of their lives, including telling them when they could have sex with their girlfriends and instructing them about specific positions.
Frost faced two counts alleging he directly or indirectly sexually touched the two players, while the other two counts alleged he instructed the players to sexually touch their girlfriends.
In his ruling, Griffin suggested the women's testimony was "possibly tainted by collusion."
Tom Harrington reports from the site of the trial for the CBC.
