LAKELAND, FL – The Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested Alexander Katchalov, 28, a former gymnastics coach, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, after he confessed to having sexual intercourse twice with a female student when she was under 16 years old. Katchalov was already a designated Florida Sexual Offender on felony probation.
The investigation began as a missing person case when detectives sought to locate the (now adult) victim after she failed to participate in a court-ordered detox program. The victim was eventually located at Katchalov’s Lakeland home. Katchalov was formerly employed at Elite World Gymnastics in Lakeland, where the victim used to attend classes.
Katchalov had a prior 2017 conviction for Possession of Photograph Showing Sexual Performance of a Child and was incarcerated from September 30, 2021, to August 24, 2022, for this offense, with his probation set to expire in August 2029. The victim in the current allegations was not involved in his child pornography case.
Upon locating the victim at Katchalov’s residence, she informed detectives about a sexual relationship she had with Katchalov when he was her coach. During his initial interview, Katchalov denied a sexual relationship but later admitted to having sexual intercourse with her twice when she was 15 years old, two weeks apart.
Detectives also discovered that Katchalov violated his probation by using an unreported internet messaging system for correspondence with the victim and possessing an unregistered online gaming account. All “internet-identifiers” for Katchalov must be registered with the Sheriff’s Office per his probationary guidelines.
Sheriff Grady Judd expressed concern about potential additional victims: “Given this former gymnastic coach’s deviant background, it is possible that there could be more victims out there. If he has victimized anyone else, we want them to contact our detectives in the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit. He has a horribly twisted attraction to children, and he needs to be locked away.”
Alexander Katchalov was transported to the Sheriff’s Processing Center and charged with: Lewd Battery (2 counts, F2), Failure to Comply with Sex Offender Registration (F3), and Violation of Probation.
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