Chad Widener
Posted by Webmaster in Coaches, Hall of Shame, High Schools, Junior High Schools, ME-FV, Ohio
(08/15/08 – Initial BBT Report)
Chad Widener, 37, a former history teacher at Miami East Junior High School and girls varsity basketball coach at Miami East High School, in Casstown, Ohio has been indicted by a Miami County grand jury on a charge of importuning, a fifth-degree felony.
Widener came to the attention of authorities in February when the parents of a 15-year-old female student complained to the county sheriff’s office about a text message to their daughter.
It is alleged that Investigators checked a message containing “sexual statements” between the girl and an unknown male and through phone records identified Widener as the writer of the message.
Widener has reportedly submitted a letter of resignation to the school system. He had been on paid administrative leave since February.
Widener’s father is reported to be a Miami County commissioner.
If convicted, Widener faces a maximum of 12 months in prison, a fine as high as $2,500 and he could lose his teaching certificate for the state of Ohio.
08/22/08 – Court Hearing
Chad Widener has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge accusing him of contacting a 15-year-old girl regarding sexual activity.
Widener was released on his own recognizance and ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim.
A special prosecutor and judge from Shelby County handled Friday’s hearing at the request of Miami County prosecutors and judges who wish to avoid any appearance of impropriety because of their relationship with Widener’s father, a Miami County Commissioner.
09/02/08 – Pre-Trial Conference
A pre-trial conference was held today for Chad Widener.
At that hearing his trial date was set for December 11th and 12 in Miami County Common Pleas Court.
A Shelby County Common Pleas Court judge and prosecutor continue to handle the case to avoid any appearance of a conflict by Miami County prosecutors and judges.
12/12/08 – Widener Avoids Trial With Plea Deal
Special Prosecutor Ralph Bauer says that a felony importuning indictment against Chad Widener will be dismissed and Widener will plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Bauer says the felony charge will be dismissed in Miami County Common Pleas Court and the new charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor will be filed in the Miami County Juvenile Court.
No date for the misdemeanor plea is known as a visiting judge will have to be appointed in juvenile court as Miami County prosecutors and judges are not handing the Chad Widener case to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interests.
Chad Widener’s father, Ron, is a Miami County commissioner.
03/19/09 – Sentencing
Judge Norman Smith of Shelby County telling Chad Widener that he “stepped way over the line” in his relationship with a 15-year-old student has sentenced Widener to six months in jail, with all but 10 days suspended.
The judge also sentenced Widener to server two years of probation, comply with any counseling ordered by probation officers, serve 20 days of community service, pay a fine and court costs and has no contact with minors, other than his own children.
Additionally the judge ordered that Widener surrender his teaching certificate, which Widener’s attorney said he has already done.
References:
Ex-coach sentenced for relationship with teen
(03/19/09)
Teacher reaches plea deal on child sex charge
(12/12/08)
Ex-teacher, coach faces trial for contacting girl, 15, about sex (09/02/08)
Former teacher and coach pleads not guilty to sex charge (08/22/08)
Ex-teacher, coach indicted on importuning charge (08/14/08)
Chad Widener’s Web Page On School Web Site is available currently but it probably will not be for much longer.
Entries (RSS)
July 21st, 2009 at 3:58 pm
This man should of be prosecctes to the high extent. He was given the opportunity to teach and coach my daughter. Because of those opportunities he should of been held to the same (high) standard that he held the girls basketball team and his students. This makes me sick. And they treasure the ground he walked on! The old boys club of Miami East – Now I glad I moved both of my daughters out of a distict that new what he was doing, but not take action (again the old boys club). Thanks to his daddy is a free man, not having to regester as a pedifile. Thats the least he should have to do – what a sick man
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March 27th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Thanks for the link, Discussed. We thought Chad’s mug shot might be available online, but we haven’t had a chance to look it up. I can tell you this much….we are sleeping much better now that this is basically over for us. We want to thank everyone that has come up to us and commended us for fighting the fight. If we had a prosecutor that actually wanted to prosecute, we might have been happier with the outcome. Mr. Widener surely deserved more than what he got, but we feel that in time, someone else will come forward with even more charges. This is nothing we would ever wish upon another family, but we know they are out there. The first day we met the detective, he told us that the Sheriff’s Department tip line had received an anonymous call weeks earlier that Mr. Widener was inappropriately texting students. We just happened to be the first ones to walk in with hard evidence. From the beginning, the detectives and counselors told us that most families in our situation (or worse) would rather stay silent, either out of embarrassment, or thinking it will be easier for their daughters. While it’s not easy coming forward, it is worth it in the end. So many times we have wondered if Mr. Widener had been turned in years ago, how much pain could have been avoided.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
http://www.shelby.miamivalleyjails.org/DEFENDANTJAIL.ASPX?CJIS_OR_PARTY_ID=C4293819
March 21st, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Where is all the defenders. After reading the Troy Daily, Over 2600 text messages sent too 2 girls. And he had started texting a 8th grader. How can the prosecutor plea with this pedophile. Hopefully they don’t leave him ALONE with his CHILDREN. I hope the parents file a lawsuit and he HAS to take the stand and show what a true pedophile he is. Everyone of the his defenders who trashed this girl and her family owe them a big apology. And to the over 100 people who wrote the judge, asking for lenience be glad this pedophile is no longer able to teach.
March 21st, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I’ve been reading the reports on this sight for over a month now. This guy was given one of the lightest sentences of the males convicted. If it is true he sent thousands of text messages to several high school students I think he should have recieved more then 10 days in jail. Sounds like the only reason he did not “cross the line” is because the girls continued to avoid his advances. I can only believe that his father’s postion had something to do with the small amount of time he will do in jail. Its like one minute for every text mail he sent…….”and justice for all”???
March 20th, 2009 at 2:41 am
Parents – reading your story sent a chill down my spine. Guys like this absolutely make my skin crawl. Shame on anyone who thinks that the fact that the girl may have messaged him back makes her culpable in any way – we are talking about a 15 year old CHILD and a 37 year old adult who is in a position of power and influence over her. His persistent requests for sex from her are absolutely not her fault in any way.
I wish your daughter the best – I hope she hasn’t suffered too much embarrassment over the issue.
March 19th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Now that we can finally talk about the case, here are the facts. Sorry GURU, but you are way off base, too bad you were not there when the judge read the Instant Message in the courtroom.
In just one Instant Message, Chad Widener asked our daughter for oral sex seven times. Each time she said “no”, he just asked again in a different way. Had we not found that Instant Message, we feel Mr. Widener’s relationship with our daughter could have only gone in one of two ways. Either she would have gotten tired of his advances and ended it, or she would have finally given in to the pressure and said “yes”, an idea that will forever haunt our family. The persistence Mr. Widener showed in pursuing sex from our daughter is disturbing. With this plea agreement, which we were 100% against, the new charge of “contributing”, doesn’t seem to be sexual in nature, but we know better.
The subpoenaed phone records revealed over 1000 text messages to our daughter from Mr. Widener in a 3-month span. But he had also sent even more texts to a freshman girl, and over 1800 texts to an 8th grader in that same time period. We couldn’t believe it, he asked our daughter for sex, and she wasn’t even number one on his texting list.
We originally came forward to protect our daughter, but it quickly became clear that she was not the only student at risk. We started hearing from parents with their own stories of texting and inappropriate talk from Mr. Widener. The sheer volume of evidence and the patterns he has shown with young girls are that of a classic predator. It’s not a fair fight. Mr. Widener’s victims are unaware of his true intentions. They think his affection is genuine, and they are too young to understand the techniques he uses to manipulate them.
We do want to publically apologize to our daughter for a mistake we made early on. The night we found that it was Mr. Widener that sent the Instant Message, we contacted the Sheriff’s Department to file a complaint. That report stated that “we were having issues with our daughter sending and receiving inappropriate emails and text messages”. Yes, she was sending messages, but the “inappropriate” messages were coming from Mr. Widener. This error made it into the report and eventually in the newspapers. We felt bad that it made our daughter look like some kind of a wild child when that was never the case. We were so overwhelmed by the situation that night that we simply didn’t catch the wording on the report before we signed it.
We felt we had more than enough evidence for the felony importuning charge, but the prosecutor (in our opinion) took the easy way out with the plea agreement. For us, the “contributing” conviction is a consolation prize. And now that Chad Widener has been convicted and sentenced, our involvement is basically over. But two questions remain for the rest of the parents in the Miami East community. How many other girls did he ask for sex? And did any of them say “yes”?