infoU.S. ice dancer arrested, charged in sexual assault on 13-year-old Florida girl

U.S. ice dancer arrested, charged in sexual assault on 13-year-old Florida girl

Dane Ayers, 20, an ice dancer from Scottsdale, Arizona, was arrested Tuesday morning by the Lee County Sheriff's Office, and accused of having sex with a girl. In Florida, statutory rape law is violated when a person has consensual sexual intercourse with an individual younger than 18.

An arrest warrant from the Sheriff's Office said Ayers, then 19 and living in Estero, met the victim, then 13, during training at the arena and sexual contacts took place in various U.S. and international cities between September and December 2019.

The contact came to light in June when a past-occurred sex crime was reported to the Collier County Sheriff's Office. The Collier agency then contacted the Lee County Sheriff's Office because the girl reported that the assaults took place in Lee County.

The victim said she met Ayers on Sept. 11, 2019. She said the contact was as friends, but Ayers soon began pushing for more.

She said that by the end of September she and Ayers started having sexual contact in the back seat of his Tesla in multiple locations including parked behind Hertz Arena, at Miromar Outlets, Coastland Center mall, and the Mercato movie theater parking garage.

Ayers was temporarily suspended from U.S. Figure Skating in July and permanently sanctioned on Sept. 2.