Rich Fellers pleads guilty to sexually assaulting a minor.Photo:Washington County Jail
Washington County Jail
Equestrian Rich Fellers has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor.
Two years after a student of his came forward and accused him of abusing her when she was 17 years old, the Olympian, 63, pleaded guilty this week to interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. Washington County District Attorney’s Office confirmed Fellers' plea to PEOPLE on Thursday.
Fellers has agreed to a four-year sentence on federal charges and a concurrent 30-month sentence on Washington County, Oregon charges, local news outletKOINreports.
TheOregon Judicial Departmentwebsite notes this week’s guilty plea on two counts of “Sexual Abuse in the Second Degree,” with his hearing scheduled for late October.
Rich Fellers poses for a photo in Los Angeles in 2015.Rob Latour/Shutterstock
Rob Latour/Shutterstock
Kehring toldBloomberg in 2022that Fellers expressed his love for her when she was 16 years old, and said she was “not a little girl anymore.”
“I put the phone down and was filled with fear,” she recalled in the 2022 interview. “I knew I couldn’t leave that barn. He was supposed to be the one to help me get to the Olympics.”
Kehring told the outlet that Fellers, over the course of subsequent months, told her he loved her and would place his hand on her thigh under the table during dinners with his family. She also said that she noted itinerary changes being made that meant when she traveled with Fellers to equestrian shows, the two would spend more time alone together and said she and Fellers first had sex after her 17th birthday. Fellers’ wife, Shelley, caught the two together in 2020 after a show in Michigan.
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“I have no comment on the Rich Fellers case,” Kehring said Wednesday, per equestrian titleChronicle of the Horse. “The public record speaks for itself. Right now, I send my thoughts to those victims of sexual abuse navigating the very emotional and difficult legal process.”
Rich Fellers wins the Rolex Fei World Cup Final in 2012.Robin Utrecht/EPA/Shutterstock
Robin Utrecht/EPA/Shutterstock
The outlet also notes that Fellers' latest guilty plea was part of a deal which added federal charges to his state felony charges, and should allow Fellers to serve his prison time at a medium-security federal prison.
According toChronicle of the Horse,Fellers' wife filed for divorce in March 2021, and Kehring’s family has since launched the#WeRideTogetheronline campaign covering sexual misconduct in the equestrian sport.
“For all the horrible people in the equestrian community that said terrible things about Maggie, I think there can be no clearer vindication for what she’s been through [than this],” Russell Prince, attorney for Kehring, told the outlet.
“There’s quite a few people who owe Maggie Kehring and the Kehring family some heartfelt apologies.”
source: people.com
