Former Nitro Swimming coach Tim O’Brien has been charged with indecency with a child. O’Brien is accused of being in a relationship with an athlete whom he had coached when she was a teen, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Nitro severed ties with O’Brien back in March when news of the alleged relationship broke. O’Brien had previously been named USA Swimming’s Developmental Coach of the Year for his work at Nitro. A day after the announcement that O’Brien was out at Nitro, USA Swimming added O’Brien to its public list of banned coaches. O’Brien was banned under two sections of the USA Swimming Code of Conduct dealing with sexually-oriented behavior toward athletes and other members of USA Swimming activities.
Now Statesman.com reports that O’Brien will face a charge of “indecency with a child.” The Statesman reports that an arrest warrant affidavit accuses O’Brien of being involved in a relationship with an athlete “he groomed from the age of 13 until she was an adult.”
The affidavit also reports that the woman told police that the two would sleep together without clothes when she was 16, and that O’Brien had exposed himself to her when she was 15. O’Brien and the woman lived together when she was 21, the woman says, but she moved out at 23. O’Brien, meanwhile, admitted that the woman would visit his apartment when she was 16, but denied having any physical relationship until she was 17 or 18. He says the woman is “lashing out” now due to the relationship ending.
Is Tim O’Brien associated with Jeff Hike
They were friendly.
Coach Tim helped any athletes become very successful, and motivated so many of the younger swimmers to keep working hard. I believe he is a great person, he just made bad decisions that hurt his career.
He’s not the victim here. He didn’t “hurt his career”, he took advantage of a child over whom he had authority. He hurt her. His career was secondary damage and 100% his fault
What is even more absurd is that no one is going to hold Mike Koleber accountable for this is any way. The news reports even show how he was able to keep the Nitro name out of the story. Tim was a coach at “USA Swimming”…no it was NITRO swimming. Mike has known about this very a long time…before the team was called NITRO is was Capital of Texas Aquatics. COTA was run by a parents on the board of directors and they questioned the nature of Tim’s relationship with this swimmer and brought it to Mike’s attention long before these stories ever made the news. There is no way he didn’t know about it.
I was just talking to my husband about this. My thoughts were if this was going on as long as the local papers are reporting then there is just no possible way the team did not know. She was meeting him to go running at 15 and it went from there. At no time is it ok for a coach to meet a 15 year old swimmer on his own to go for a run. I’m disgusted to hear that the head coach was alerted of this and did nothing. He should be held accountable for his inaction.
If it was consensual then it doesn’t seem like a big deal. Maybe it’s justified to fire a coach who slept with his swimmers, fair enough. I wouldn’t consider him a sexual predator from what I’ve heard through the grapevine.
To be honest, If this was that big of a deal, while on earth would she wait a decade to share this information? Women confuse me.
I am sorry but if you think this does not sound like a sexual predator I don’t what else is. You don’t get to consent at 15.
“During one run, she said he partially pulled down his shorts and showed her his penis.”
“she said she started going over to his house where they would sleep next to each other. He allegedly would touch her breasts and vagina. She said he would also make her touch his penis.”
http://www.kvue.com/news/local/former-austin-swim-coach-charged-with-indecency-with-child/361053043
Thank goodness your grapevine is as relevant as it is informed.
Consensual? At 15 years old??? Seriously? He was a grown man preying upon a 15 year old girl. I don’t think it’s women you don’t understand, it is victims you don’t understand. If you read the article from the local news it says she didn’t come forward because she was afraid nothing would happen because of his position in USA Swimming.
Tim O’Brien is a great coach and outstanding person. My prayers go out to Tim for peace and a clean slate.
What in the world does it take to make someone a bad person?
A great coach comes from an outstanding person. An outstanding person would know what the indecency with a child is. Therefore, he is not a great coach nor an outstanding person. Get it right.
He doesn’t even deny the allegations. He admits that she went to his apartment at a young age but of course nothing happened until she was 17. How on earth does this make him an outstanding person?
Any lawyers out there know what kind of sentence is attached if convicted?
2nd degree felony- up to 20 years, registered sex offender for life.
http://coferlaw.com/criminal-cases/sexual-accusations/felony-sexual-accusations/indecency-with-a-child/
According to Fox (http://www.fox7austin.com/news/local-news/221024839-story) he is charged with “Indecency with a Child by Contact”. Texas Penal Code § 21.11 (http://codes.findlaw.com/tx/penal-code/penal-sect-21-11.html) indicates that is a “felony of the second degree”. Texas Penal Code § 12.33 (http://codes.findlaw.com/tx/penal-code/penal-sect-12-33.html) indicates a punishment between 2 and 20 years, and a fine up to $10,000.
“O’Brien, meanwhile, admitted that the woman would visit his apartment when she was 16, but denied having any physical relationship until she was 17 or 18. He says the woman is “lashing out” now due to the relationship ending.”
And even if that is the case…good.