Photo by Brett Dunlap Jeff Olson stood up in the court of Wood County Circuit Judge Robert Waters on Thursday to apologize for what he did after having pleaded guilty to distribution and exhibition of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. References were made to inappropriate conduct with a year-old girl he was the tennis coach of at Parkersburg High School around He was sentenced to two years in the North Central Regional Jail.
He was originally charged with displaying obscene material to and solicitation of a minor at his arrest in August References were made during the hearing to pictures of a sexual nature being exchanged with a girl who was 16 years old at the time while he was her tennis coach as well as indications of things happening of a sexual nature during phone calls, all which occurred around Olson joined the YMCA as program director in late and was named chief operating officer in January He had also served as a PHS tennis coach for a number of years but resigned in March Olson spoke before the court and publicly apologized to the victim and her family.
Waters said he received letters from people in the community in support of Olson. Defense Attorney George Cosenza urged the court to consider alternative sentencing, saying Olson has strong support in the community.
Olson who has otherwise led a very law-abiding life. He has been working at a church and has made efforts to improve his life. He has recommitted himself to his faith and a relationship with God and being active in Bible study at church and more. She and her father have had many regular conversations about God, Jesus, spirituality, sin and suffering. Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure asked the court to do the full two-year sentence in jail and reject any request for alternative sentencing.
Lefebure said there was a significant age difference between the two as Olson was 47 at the time. Despite what was agreed to in the plea agreement, there were many instances where Olson acted inappropriately with this girl and they could have been dealing with a lot more charges, he said.
