Ex-coach pleads guilty to sex charge involving eighth-grader

September 13, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

LONDON, Ohio

A former middle-school basketball coach in central Ohio pleaded guilty Friday to sexual battery after he allegedly had a relationship with an eighth-grade girl.

Joseph Crager, 30, of South Vienna, was coaching seventh-grade girls in the Madison-Plains district, west of Columbus, when he started having a relationship with a 13-year-old, prosecutors said. The two had oral sex, prosecutors said, but did not have intercourse.

Madison County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert D. Nichols let Crager remain free on bond, on the condition that he avoid contact with the girl. He’s scheduled to be sentenced next month and faces up to five years in prison.

Crager did not return a message seeking comment Saturday.

The girl’s mother had asked Crager to help her with her basketball game, prosecutors said. He did not coach the girl.

Some of the girl’s friends found text messages from Crager on her phone and passed notes about it, prosecutors said. One student found a note in the garbage and told the school’s principal and guidance counselor.

Court records showed about 60 text messages on the girl’s phone.

Crager worked as a substitute teacher for 125 days during the last school year at the Madison-Plains district, payroll administrator Teresa Brandt told The Columbus Dispatch. His $1,126 coaching contract had run out for the year when allegations arose about Crager’s relationship with the teen. Brandt said the school stopped using him as soon as the investigation came about.

Crager will be labeled as a sex offender and will not be able to hold a license to teach in Ohio.