Three adults involved in Ooltewah rape case each face different outcome

Ooltewah High School assistant basketball coach assistant coach Karl Williams, head coach Andre "Tank" Montgomery and Athletic Director Allard "Jesse" Nayadley during (front to back) appear before Judge Robert Philyaw during a preliminary in Hamilton County Juvenile Court on February 25, 2016. Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston charged the three with failing to report child abuse or suspected child sexual abuse in connection with the rape of an Ooltewah High School freshman by his basketball teammates Dec. 22, 2015.
Ooltewah High School assistant basketball coach assistant coach Karl Williams, head coach Andre "Tank" Montgomery and Athletic Director Allard "Jesse" Nayadley during (front to back) appear before Judge Robert Philyaw during a preliminary in Hamilton County Juvenile Court on February 25, 2016. Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston charged the three with failing to report child abuse or suspected child sexual abuse in connection with the rape of an Ooltewah High School freshman by his basketball teammates Dec. 22, 2015.

Each of the three adults charged in connection with the rape of an Ooltewah High School freshman is facing a different outcome.

The last of the charges pending before a Hamilton County grand jury were dropped Wednesday after Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston dismissed charges facing Karl Williams, a volunteer-assistant basketball coach at Ooltewah High School.

Williams was charged in January along with Ooltewah High School's head basketball coach, Andre "Tank" Montgomery, and Athletic Director Allard "Jesse" Nayadley for failing to report child sexual abuse or suspected child sexual abuse.

The order of dismissal in Williams' case filed in Hamilton County Criminal Court on Wednesday says the failure-to-report charge was dismissed because he "was not provided any training regarding the mandatory reporting law."

Williams' attorney, Johnny Houston, said his client is glad to have a positive resolution to the case.

"We didn't feel like he ever did anything wrong," Houston said. "The district attorney saw it differently, at least initially."

Houston said the mandatory reporting statute, which was debated at length during a preliminary hearing in the case, is poorly constructed, and reasonable minds can disagree on what it means and how it applies.

"It takes guts for [Pinkston] to dismiss a case," Houston said. "It reflects that District Attorney Pinkston is willing to make tough decisions."

Pinkston declined to comment Wednesday.

Last week, Montgomery was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of failing to report child sexual abuse.

Failure to report child sexual abuse is a Class A misdemeanor in Tennessee and carries a sentence of up to 11 months, 29 days behind bars.

Montgomery is scheduled to appear before Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole on June 3 for his arraignment, during which he is expected to enter a plea. If he pleads not guilty, his case will proceed through Criminal Court and could end in a trial, settlement or be dismissed.

Nayadley's case took a different route earlier this month, as he appeared before Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Tom Greenholtz and accepted a pretrial diversion. That means Nayadley agreed to skip a grand jury review and was granted pretrial diversion by Pinkston. If he completes 10 hours of community service, attends a course on reporting abuse and is well behaved, the charge will be erased from his record in 180 days.

Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at 423-757-6592 or kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com. Follow on Twitter @kendi_and.

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