Paul Tobias, 45, of Buena Vista, pled guilty to one count of aggravated sexual battery in Buena Vista Circuit Court last Thursday and two other counts were dropped as part of a plea agreement. He received a sentence of five years, all of which was suspended, and three years of supervised probation.
All three charges stemmed from incidents that occurred while Tobias was employed as an athletic trainer at Southern Virginia University.
During the hearing, Buena Vista Commonwealth’s Attorney Josh Elrod summarized the evidence that he would have presented had the case gone to trial.
The evidence would have shown that the victim in the incident for which Tobais pled guilty was a student at SVU who had been in a car accident and sought treatment through the university’s athletic department in April 2024, and that the contact Tobias had with her was in his role as an athletic trainer, which resulted in the aggravated sexual battery charge.
The victim would have testified that she had two encounters with Tobias, one on April 24 and one on April 25, in which he touched her inappropriately during treatment sessions.
A second victim would have testified to a similar incident with Tobias in December 2023. Evidence would have been presented to show that after the December 2023 incident, Tobias had received a warning was “instructed to adjust his behavior.”
Another athletic trainer would have testified as an expert witness about what procedures are in place when any physical contact is made with sensitive areas during treatment, which includes “significant discussion” of what contact will be made as well as discussion of alternative treatment options. In these cases, Elrod said, the evidence would show that “there was almost no discussion,” and that Tobias “seemed to proceed despite objections or inquiries about alternate treatment.”
Tobias pled guilty to the April 25 incident and the other two were dismissed. Elrod noted that the agreement was reached “in consultation” with both of the victims and that they were “largely in favor of it.”
Tobias is no longer employed at SVU.
