Former Raleigh, North Carolina swim coach Shannon Foster was given a 25-day suspended prison sentence on Friday by Wake District Court Judge Eric Chasse for her part in a sexual assault case involving a 14-year old swimmer.
The sentence was suspended and Foster was given 24 months of probation, which includes a no-contact order with the teenager.
Foster is the former girlfriend of Nathan Weddle, who pleaded guilty in July to 2 counts of taking indecent liberties with children under the age of 16 and 1 charge of engaging in a sexual act with a child aged 15-or-younger and 12-or-older. The two were both coaches on the Capital Area Swim Team at the time of the abuse.
While investigating Weddle, police found evidence that Foster knew about the abuse and sent the victim a text message demanding that she stay away from Weddle.
Both coaches have been banned by the U.S. Center for Safe Sport.
This is a tough case… up to the time she sent that text, it seems she was really a victim. And I could imagine being in her shoes: you’re living with your boyfriend, you think things are great, then one day you find out that not only is he cheating on you; he’s molesting a 14-year-old girl on your swim team! So I have some sympathy for the poor judgement she showed, when she first leraned about this — I mean, a lot of people would freak out and not be thinking clearly. That said, it’s very disappointing that her first instinct was to “attack” the young swimmer rather than try to help her, and it’s disappointing that she didn’t… Read more »
25 day suspended sentence? Wow…Disappointing. The victim was 14. I’m shocked.