A Steubenville, Ohio, high school coach implicated in the failure of some school officials to report a 16-year-old girl's rape will perform 20 hours of community service as punishment.
Wrestling coach Seth Fluharty faced 30 days in jail for failing to report possible child abuse in August 2012. He was charged alongside Steubenville Superintendent Mike McVey, volunteer football coach Matthew Belardine and elementary school principal Lynnett Gorman.
Ohio state law requires that public and private employees -- including schoolteachers and administrators -- must immediately report suspected cases of abuse and neglect, according to The Associated Press. A grand jury was formed last year to investigate school officials the same day that a judge convicted Ma'Lik Richmond and Trent Mays of penetrating the victim with their fingers at a party following a team scrimmage.
WKYC reports that Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced a resolution in Fluharty's case. Fluharty agreed to the following:
- Perform 20 community service hours at the A.L.I.V.E. shelter or other approved facility in the Steubenville area.
- Attend a training session for Steubenville City Schools provided by the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence to provide Steubenville school staff members with an overview of of sexual assault and to teach them how to co-facilitate the "Stand Up!" program for Steubenville students.
- Defendant will have co-facilitated the "Stand Up! Steubenville" programs conducted in Steubenville High School and middle schools on April 10.
- If Fluharty successfully completes the terms of the agreement, the misdemeanor charges against him would be dismissed.
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