WABASH CO.—Sarah K. Reilly, a former softball coach, has been sentenced in a watered-down version of an initial sex offense in Wabash County.
Swing, battahbattah…
Reilly, 20, was the Mt. Carmel youth softball coach who was hemmed up last September on a charge of Criminal Sexual Abuse with a victim who was less than five years younger than she was. Given that this occurred in May of 2012 and Reilly would have been 19 at the time, there’s no way of knowing what the age of the victim was, but it would have been age 14 or older. It’s our understanding that the victim was a female, and was one of the players on the ball team she coached. There’s no clear indication of who initiated the ‘relationship’ that prompted the charge; given the wanton pursuit of all things sexual by teenagers these days regardless of gender or orientation, there’s probably no telling. However, the general consensus is that this was a “normal sexual relationship” between two people who were “dating” and that the only reason it came to the attention of authorities was because the parents were upset that it was a same-sex “relationship.” Never mind that she was ALSO “in a position of trust or authority” over the victim, something that’s gotten people in “relationships” hemmed up in the past (think Todd Fort in Saline County).
With attorney Abby McAdow leading the charge for Reilly (more on Abby in upcoming posts/articles, we promise), she managed to get Reilly’s embarrassing sex charge reduced to a simple Battery with Physical Contact count, courtesy of Wabash County prosecutor Cassandra Goldman, who bends whichever way the wind blows when it comes to sports figures in sports-obsessed Mt. Carmel. So once again, someone to whom an investigation of sexual misconduct pointed is now just convicted of a simple misdemeanor battery, which could in the future mean to others who might have her in their employ (or as a volunteer) that she might’ve gotten a little rough with one of her charges as regards her coaching, right? In other words, she now lives in Champaign, so unless they’re paying close attention to downstate news (which they likely don’t; hell, they don’t pay attention to their OWN news) they may never know what really was the deal…and another person who has a perverse sexual nature is once again back among young people, doing her thing unhindered.
Reilly entered her guilty plea to the reduced charge in exchange for a mild sentence: two years’ probation, $1,307 in fines and fees (of which she’s paid only $200—her bond—so far, and a stayed jail sentence of six months. If she screws up over the next two years, she has to complete the jail sentence…otherwise, Ms. Reilly faces no other punishment than this. So apparently the only question that remains is…should she? Give us your thoughts.