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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA northern Indiana softball coach faces a 30-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to molesting a 13-year-old girl who had played on one of his travel teams.
A St. Joseph County judge sentenced Michael Feltz to 40 years in prison Friday but suspended 10 years of his sentence, the South Bend Tribune reported. He will face five years of probation after his release and must also register as a sex offender.
Feltz, 45, was the head coach and president of the OC Crush softball league. He pleaded guilty in August to one count of child molesting.
Prosecutors said he molested the girl for about five months. The girl’s mother found sexually explicit messages and nude photos of Feltz on her daughter’s cellphone in late March and alerted police, according to court documents.
Feltz was arrested in April and charged with possession of child pornography and dissemination of material harmful to a minor, but prosecutors dismissed those charges as part of his plea agreement.
The victim, who was 13 at the time, told investigators that Feltz had been molesting her since October. The girl also said Feltz molested her in his car parked in a store’s parking lot on multiple occasions, court documents say.
The judge who sentenced Feltz also ordered him to pay $1,900 in restitution to the victim’s family, according to court records.
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