CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio – A former Bethel-Tate High School athletic coach is facing ten felony charges, including unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, after he turned himself into the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed Chief Deputy Chris Stratton.

On Thursday, July 16, Chad Edward Willhoff, 41, of Milford, was arrested and charged with one count of gross sexual imposition, three counts of sexual battery and six counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, following a grand jury indictment. All of the charges against him are third-degree felonies.

The alleged abuse spanned over several years, beginning when the victim was 12 years old and continued while Willhoff was her coach from 2004-2008, said Clermont County Assistant Prosecutor Scott O’Reilly.

“What sticks out the most is you think about somebody carrying with this for the better part of almost two decades, and you know that’s weighed on her consistently since this started,” O’Reilly said.

“From the perspective of a prosecutor, obviously when you’ve got a victim who’s been dealing with this for almost 20 years, and they finally come forward — it’s different for every victim — so what made her come forward at this point in time is specific to her,” O’Reilly added. “But it tells you that she’s been dealing with this since she was 12 years old.”

O’Reilly did not elaborate at this time what circumstances compelled the victim to report Willhoff to authorities now.

But during the aforementioned timeframe, Willhoff worked for Bethel-Tate High School as a girls soccer, track and basketball coach, as well as the boys track coach. And while Willhoff does possess a teaching certificate, he has never been employed as a teacher for the Bethel-Tate Local School District.

“Obviously, he had access to her in a lot of different ways, one of which was being a coach of her while she was in high school, so that’s concerning enough,” O’Reilly said. 

That access reached further than school, however, as Willhoff is also a family member of the victim, according to the prosecutor.

“You’re talking about an entire family being damaged. And in a lot of cases, when it’s inter-family, and we have a lot of those, it’s not just difficult on the victim but just how this changes the entire family dynamic. It just tells you how personal sex offenses are and how many different people are really affected by it,” O’Reilly said.

Willhoff, who is married with two children, is a 1997 graduate of Bethel-Tate High School and works in the real estate industry. He was booked in the Clermont County Jail Thursday just after 5:30 p.m.

He was arraigned on Friday, posted a $75,000 bond and was released from jail. His next court appearance is slated for Monday, July 27, at 8 a.m., at the Clermont County Common Pleas Court.

*EDITOR’S NOTE 11/23/2020: Willhoff pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on July 17. Jessica Noll attended Bethel-Tate High School and the same church as Willhoff, but has no personal connections to him or the victims in this story.