Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 2/15/16. Detective Rodney Burns of the Gatlinburg Police Department is sworn in as a witness before Judge Robert Philyaw during a preliminary hearing for the Ooltewah High School basketball coaches and the school’s athletic director in Hamilton County Juvenile Court on February 25, 2016. Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston charged head coach Andre “Tank” Montgomery, assistant coach Karl Williams and Athletic Director Allard “Jesse” Nayadley 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. Two adults charged in connection with the rape of an Ooltewah High School freshman entered not guilty pleas this morning in Hamilton County Criminal Court.
Ooltewah High School head basketball coach Andre “Tank” Montgomery appeared in Judge Don Poole’s courtroom on four charges of failing to report child sexual abuse. His attorney, Curtis Bowe, entered the not guilty plea on his behalf.
Just next door in Judge Tom Greenholtz courtroom, an attorney representing Gatlinburg Police Detective Rodney Burns also entered a not guilty plea for the two charges of aggravated perjury Burns is facing. These charges result from Burns previous testimony in Montgomery’s preliminary hearing in this case.
Both men will appear again in Hamilton County Criminal Court in late August, and at that time the Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office said they will move for the cases to go to trial.
Montgomery is charged for not reporting abuse to the proper authorities during an Ooltewah High School basketball team trip to Gatlinburg, Tenn., just days before Christmas. Failure to report child sexual abuse is a class A misdemeanor and carries a sentence of up to 11 months, 29 days behind bars.