A former Tennessee high school football coach supported his wife in court on Monday as she was sentenced to three years in prison for repeatedly having sex with one of his teen players, reports say.
Kelsey McCarter, 27, pleaded guilty on Monday to six counts of statutory rape and one count of exploitation of a minor for having sex with a 16-year-old player on her husband, Justin McCarter’s, former South-Doyle High School football team in Knoxville, KRON reports.
McCarter initially faced 38 years in prison. She agreed to a three-year sentence at Monday’s hearing, where Justin, an assistant coach on the team, stood by her side.
“She made a mistake,” McCarter’s attorney, Doug Trant, said after the hearing, according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel. “She’ll move past it. She’s young and, as you saw, her family is here in support of her. Her husband is strongly supportive of her.”
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The boys moved in with the couple when Justin offered to mentor them after they began having behavioral problems.
“She’s very sorry about what happened, she’s sorry she put her family through this,” Trant said, according to the News-Sentinel. “It’s tough and it will continue to be tough.”
The scandal rocked the Knoxville school. Principal Tim Berry and assistant principal Clark Duncan were briefly placed on administrative leave in February amid claims that they did not immediately report the sexual allegations against McCarter, WATE reports.
McCarter initially faced 38 years in prison. She agreed to a three-year sentence at Monday’s hearing, where Justin, an assistant coach on the team, stood by her side.
“She made a mistake,” McCarter’s attorney, Doug Trant, said after the hearing, according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel. “She’ll move past it. She’s young and, as you saw, her family is here in support of her. Her husband is strongly supportive of her.”
• The boys moved in with the couple when Justin offered to mentor them after they began having behavioral problems.
“She’s very sorry about what happened, she’s sorry she put her family through this,” Trant said, according to the News-Sentinel. “It’s tough and it will continue to be tough.”
The scandal rocked the Knoxville school. Principal Tim Berry and assistant principal Clark Duncan were briefly placed on administrative leave in February amid claims that they did not immediately report the sexual allegations against McCarter, WATE reports.
Kelsey McCarter, 27, pleaded guilty to all seven counts, including six statutory rape charges Monday, Sep. 25, 2017 ahead of her trial that was set to begin Monday in Knox County Criminal Court.(Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)
The wife of a former South-Doyle High football coach pleaded guilty to repeatedly having sex with one of the players on the team Monday, agreeing to a three-year prison term.
Kelsey McCarter, 27, pleaded guilty to all seven counts, including six statutory rape charges, ahead of her trial that was set to begin Monday in Knox County Criminal Court.
McCarter, who was facing 38 years in prison, made the decision to plead guilty and in favor of the minimum sentence on Thursday, said her attorney, Doug Trant. She will be eligible for release after serving 30 percent of the sentence.
"She made a mistake," Trant said after the hearing. "She'll move past it. She's young, and as you saw, her family is here in support of her. Her husband is strongly supportive of her."
The judge ordered McCarter to return to court on Oct. 30 to surrender.
"She's very sorry about what happened, she's sorry she put her family through this," Trant said. "It's tough and it will continue to be tough."
Kelsey McCarter and the 16-year-old sophomore player had sex in her home and in her care over multiple times between Feb. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, including when she was driving him to his mother's house to move back in with his family, prosecutors said.
She also once sent him a topless video of herself, prosecutors said.
The boy's mother said last year the abuse happened while her son and his older brother were living with the McCarters.
Justin McCarter invited the two brothers to live with him and his wife, offering to mentor the boys after they began having behavioral problems, such as skipping school, the mother said.
The brothers lived with the McCarters for about a year, their mother said, and played on the football team while attending South-Doyle High. No abuse has been alleged against the older boy.
As of last year, the boys were living with their mother and attending Fulton High School.
Justin McCarter resigned as an instructional aide and assistant football coach for South-Doyle in February 2016.
Principal Tim Berry and assistant principal Clark Duncan were placed on paid administrative leave in February pending an investigation into whether they failed to immediately report allegations of child sexual abuse to the state Department of Children's Services or law enforcement.
Kelsey McCarter, 27, charged with six counts of statutory rape by an authority figure and one count of exploitation of a minor by electronic means. Wochit
Both school administrators returned to work in May after receiving written reprimands. According to the reprimands, dated May 9, 2016. Duncan notified Berry on Jan. 27, 2016, of a report that a teaching assistant's wife had shared "compromising photographs" with a former South-Doyle High School student. The McCarters and the student aren't identified by name in the reprimands.
Berry reported the allegations to DCS on Jan. 28.
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