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Ooltewah athletic director charged in rape case with failure to report incident could return to job
Ooltewah High School’s suspended athletic director could return to his job under an agreement reached Wednesday in Hamilton County Criminal Court.
District Attorney Neal Pinkston had charged Allard “Jesse” Nayadley and two other basketball coaches at Ooltewah High with failing to report child sexual abuse or suspected child sexual abuse in connection with the rape of an Ooltewah High School freshman, allegedly by three of his teammates, just days before Christmas.
But standing in Judge Tom Greenholtz’s courtroom Wednesday morning, Pinkston offered Nayadley pretrial diversion, meaning the charges against him will not be presented to a grand jury and his case will be dismissed in 180 days if he completes 10 hours of community service, attends a class on mandatory reporting of abuse and is well-behaved.
“A pretrial diversion is a procedure that is not offered to a lot of people,” Greenholtz said during the proceeding.
Nayadley’s attorney, Lee Davis, agreed that it’s rare for district attorneys to offer pretrial diversion and the state has to approve it, adding that he’s never seen anyone regret taking the deal.