Former Grand Rapids, Michigan diving coach Donald Richard Glass III has been sentenced to eight to 20 years in prison for sexually assaulting one of his underage athletes, MLive.com reports.
Glass was a coach with the Grand Rapids Diving club and for two local high schools (East Grand Rapids and Forest Hills Central), according to MLive, and entered into an inappropriate relationship with a teenage athlete.
The athlete says the situation began in 2011, when she was just 15 years old. Glass admitted in court that he took nude pictures of the girl at his house when she was 17. It appears the relationship continued until the girl had turned 18.
The girl, who appeared in court, is now 19. She said she still suffers from “trauma, humiliation and nightmares” (according to MLive) because of the abuse at the hands of her former coach.
Glass pleaded guilty to criminal sexual assault last month and apologized to the girl.
Though the judge in the case did commend Glass for admitting to his mistakes rather than forcing a sexual assault victim to go through the full process of a trial, he still admonished the former coach for the damage he caused.
“You were someone she looked up to, you were a role model and a coach and you took advantage of her,” the judge said. “You’ve done some serious damage.”
Glass was sentenced to eight to 20 years in prison this week.
