[ad_1]
An Oregon-based Olympic show jumper pleaded guilty on Tuesday to sexually abusing a teenage protégé, and accepted a 30-month prison term.
Richard Fellers, 63, was arrested in June 2021 on four counts of sexual abuse.
Maggie Kehring first met Fellers when she was 14, and said she idolized him.
When she turned 16, he confessed his feelings, which she said made her burst into tears of shock. She lost her virginity to him when she was 17, and their relationship continued until Fellers’ wife Shelly walked in on them.
Shelly Fellers filed for divorce in March this year, and has been suspended from competitive equestrianism for failing to report her husband’s sex abuse.
Kehring told CBS News she was initially in awe of his horsemanship and skill, but now sees him as ‘a sociopath’.
Fellers, arriving at court on Tuesday, told KOIN 6 News he had no comment on the plea deal.
Richard Fellers, 63, is seen on Tuesday arriving in court in Portland, Oregon. He plead guilty to interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor
Maggie Kehring (right) first met Fellers when she was 14. He is pictured in his June 2021 mug shot
Kehring said she idolized the famed equestrian: she now thinks he is ‘a sociopath’
Fellers wife Shelley is pictured. She filed for divorce from her pervert husband earlier this year
He agreed to plead guilty to interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.
The age of consent in Oregon is 18.
The Washington County District Attorney’s Office told KOIN 6 News that Fellers agreed to spend 30 months in prison on state charges, at the same time he serves a four-year sentence on federal charges.
Fellers, who runs a large equestrian operation in Oregon City, 20 miles south of downtown Portland, was suspended by the U.S. Center for SafeSport in June 2021.
Oregon-born, he was given a horse for his 11th birthday and soon established himself as a local champion.
In 1989 he bought the stable yard outside Portland where he is now based, which is currently valued at $1.8 million.
He first represented the United States in 1991, when he was part of the bronze-winning U.S. showjumping team at the Pan-American Games in Havana, Cuba.
Fellers came sixth in the London 2012 Olympics on Flexible, a 16-year-old stallion who he began riding in 2002.
At the time, Shelly Fellers praised her husband of 25 years as ‘a great husband, great partner’.
She added: ‘He hates being away from his kids and the family.’
The Fellers have two adult children, Christopher and Savannah.
Fellers competed in two showjumping events at the 2012 Olympics, placing sixth and eighth
Kehring is pictured at a showjumping event in Florida in January 2021
Fellers bought this equestrian estate in 1989. It is now valued at $1.8 million
Kehring left her family in California to move in with the show jumper and his wife.
She claims things took a dark turn when she was 16, and he called her professing his love.
She told CBS News: ‘I get this call and he says: ‘I have these feelings for you, it’s been building up the past six months, you can’t tell anyone, I’m crazy about you.’
‘I sat in my room and cried the rest of the day.’
Kehring called Fellers ‘a sociopath’ who used his position as a coach and respected ‘father figure’ to make advances at her when she was a minor.
She had first met Fellers when she was 14 and idolized him.
Kehring credited Fellers – who placed sixth and eighth during London 2012 showjumping events – for opening up the elite and competitive sport to her.
She said that after Fellers confessed his feeling for her when she was 16, he continued to ask her to pursue a sexual relationship with her, even after she’d said no.
Fellers is pictured after winning the Rolex FEI World Cup jumping final in the Netherlands in 2012
Fellers pictured at the 2012 Olympics in Greenwich Park, London. He came sixth and eighth in two showjumping events.
Although Kehring kept rejecting his offers, she said she eventually felt cornered and said yes.
‘It shouldn’t have happened,’ Kehring said.
‘And I had said ‘No’ before it even started. I had said ‘No’ at the beginning, I had said ‘No’ multiple times.’
Kehring said the relationship ended when Shelly walked in on them at a Michigan horse show in July 2020.
Fellers was arrested on June 7, 2021 in Oregon by the Tualatin Police Department, who had conducted a months long investigation into the matter following a tip from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, a nonprofit focused on ending all forms of abuse in sport.
They had received multiple anonymous tip-offs about Fellers’ alleged abuse of Kehring.
‘The power in me has been restored by protecting others and ensuring that no one else will be scarred by this same experience,’ Kehring said in a statement released by her attorneys.
‘I am so thankful for the work the Tualatin Police Department and FBI have done on my behalf and on the behalf of others in similar situations.’
[ad_2]