Ohio authorities announced that a former high school softball coach has pleaded guilty and a teacher’s assistant to having had sexual contact with a student aged 17.
Ashley Rison, 31, pleaded guilty in Butler County Common Pleas court last week to one count of sexual battery and two counts of gross sexual imposition, according to online court records.
Authorities said that five additional counts of sexual assault were dropped in exchange for a plea bargain.
Rison could face up to 9 years imprisonment and a $20,000 penalty at her Nov. 16 sentencing hearing.
Authorities claim that Rison, a former employee at New Miami High School, had eight sexual encounters with the juvenile in April 2021. Prosecutors claimed that Rison plead with the teenager to not report her to authorities.
“In addition to what the child tells us, we do have recordings between Ms. Rison and the child of where Ms. Rison makes multiple incriminating statements in asking, begging the child not to report her to the authorities,”Lindsay Sheehan, Butler County Assistant Prosecutor, said. WXIX-TVreported.
According to authorities, Rison was taken into custody in January after an extensive investigation.
According to the prosecutors, there was only one victim in the school.
“We are not alleging a rape by force,”Mike Gmoser, Butler County prosecutor, stated.
Officials stated that Rison, who had resigned after her arrest, was the first person hired by the school district. She coached girls softball and basketball and also worked as a teacher’s aide.