LANSING — Holt High School’s boys basketball coach has been suspended after being arrested for sexually abusive activity with children and approaching a minor for immoral purposes.
In a letter to parents Friday, Holt Superintendent David Hornak said Muhammad El-Amin was placed on administrative leave immediately after the district learned of the accusations against El-Amin.
“At this point,” Hornak wrote, “we have no information to believe that this matter involved district students or occurred on district property.”
El-Amin, 36, was arraigned Friday in 54-A District Court on one count of sexually abusive activity toward children, two counts of communicating by computer over the Internet with another to commit a crime and accosting children for immoral purposes – all crimes.
He was arrested Thursday and Friday in one of several child sex cases carried out by members of “multiple Lansing area law enforcement agencies,” a Lansing police investigator said in a court document that led to charges against Coach Holt on Friday.
Police posted an ad on an online prostitution site that was not accessible by chance, according to the investigator. A sender later identified as El-Amin responded to the ad Thursday, requesting that a decoy posing as a 15-year-old girl perform a sex act on him, the investigator said.
He agreed to pay the decoy $50 and “a package of White Claw liquor for oral sex,” then arranged to meet the decoy at a business located in the 5000 block of Dunckel Road, the document states.
The police saw El-Amin arrive at the meeting place at the agreed time and arrested him, the investigator said. Officers found $50 and a package of White Claw.
In a news release issued Friday evening, Lansing police said members of the department’s Special Operations Unit, the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office and Michigan State Police arrested El -Amin around 8:20 p.m. Thursday.
A magistrate set a $20,000 personal bond for El-Amin, provided he has no unsupervised contact with minors and stays away from areas where minors might frequent, including schools and parks, according to court records. Records indicate he requested representation by a court-appointed attorney.
El-Amin, who did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment, was hired to coach the Holt boys in May 2023.
He graduated from Holt in 2005 and helped the Rams win the Class A state championship in 2005. After graduating, he was an All-American at Lansing Community College before joining Stony Brook. He was the US East Player of the Year and received an honorable mention All-American from the Associated Press in 2010.
El-Amin later played professionally abroad.
Hornak said the district will provide academic support and counseling to all students affected by the situation. He also asked anyone with information to call OK2Say at 855-565-2729, the Holt public hotline at 517-699-STOP or his office.
A hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for El-Amin to stand trial on these charges has been tentatively set for May 24.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared in the Lansing State Journal: Holt boys basketball coach Muhammad El-Amin arrested, suspended
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