BATAVIA, Ohio — Former Bethel-Tate athletics coach Chad Willhoff, who is charged with multiple felonies including unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, appeared in court. 

What You Need To Know

  • A former high school coach has been charged with 10 felonies, including unlawful sexual conduct with a minor

  • Chad Willhoff turned himself into the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office on July 16 after a grand jury indicted him on 10 third-degree felonies

  • If convicted, he faces 50 years in prison

Willhoff, 41, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on July 17, stood outside Judge Jerry McBride’s courtroom at the Clermont County Common Pleas Court in Batavia, Ohio on Monday, July 27 at 8 a.m.

When his case was called before the judge, his attorney, John O’Shea with Cohen, Todd, Kite and Stanford, LLC Attorneys at Law, stepped up to the podium. Judge McBride questioned whether his client was still behind bars and O’Shea responded that he was waiting in the hallway. The judge summoned the accused to come inside the courtroom.  

A towering Willhoff, standing at a little over six-feet tall, entered the courtroom wearing dark gray dress pants, a light gray button-up shirt and a mask on his face. He stood next to his attorney at the podium but did not speak.  

Willhoff, of Milford, turned himself into the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office on July 16 after a grand jury indicted him on 10 third-degree felonies, including one count of gross sexual imposition, three counts of sexual battery and six counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.  

The alleged abuse spanned over several years beginning when the victim was 12 years old and continued while Willhoff was her coach from 2004 to 2008 at Bethel-Tate High School in Bethel, Ohio, 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 on what circumstances compelled the victim to report Willhoff to authorities on May 16.  

“I’m going to let the trial process play its way out, but I think you’ll understand why,” O’Reilly said.  

In a case like this, the statutes of limitations are between 20 to 25 years depending on the charges, he confirmed. And he said it’s not uncommon for a victim to come forward years later.  

"When you're talking about young children, it makes a lot of sense, especially if there's fear as to why they wouldn't do it. But you can see over time that if somebody has experienced this over a significant period of time, it just becomes part of their life,” he said. 

During the time frame in which he is accused, 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 an expired teaching certificate, he has never been employed as a teacher for the Bethel-Tate Local School District, confirmed by Clermont County Sheriff Chief Deputy Chris Stratton.  

“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. 

It is unknown at this time if there are any other victims, but O’Reilly said it only takes one person coming forward for others to feel strong enough to report their abuse as well.  

"It's not uncommon at all for additional people to come forward, and you can see how this has been a pattern of conduct usually for a very lengthy period of time,” said O’Reilly, who has prosecuted thousands of cases like this in his 20 years as an attorney.  

"I think there's strength in numbers," he continued. "I think that a lot of times it takes one very brave person to stand on their own and then it takes somebody to believe them — but I think that once there's that strength position... then the flood gates open,” he 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 July 16 and released on a $75,000 bond after his arraignment the following day.

O’Reilly believes he will have plenty of evidence to support the case against Willhoff when the time comes.  

"I think we've got some pretty good evidence,” O'Reilly said. "If we're not convinced that a case should go forward then we shouldn't be presenting it if we didn't think it was enough evidence. So, obviously I believe there's enough evidence here."  

He would not go into detail about the specifics of that evidence but did say that it was more than just the word of the victim.  

If convicted on all counts, O’Reilly said, Willhoff could face 50 years behind bars and have to register as a tier 3 sex offender, mandating that he register every 90 days for the rest of his life, based on the charges.  

Nine of the 10 counts pertain to sexual conduct, the prosecutor said, one of those being for contact. The gross sexual imposition is for "touching of an erogenous zone" and the other nine counts pertain to sexual conduct, including intercourse. Three counts are in regard to his position of authority and the other six charges deal with the age difference between them.  

"Even if it's not physical force, it can be mental force put on you because of that heightened position," O'Reilly explained the charges for someone in authority. 

On Monday morning, O'Shea asked the judge for time to look over the evidence he anticipates receiving from the prosecutor before they have their next court appearance.  

Willhoff's next court date is slated for Sept. 14. 

*EDITOR’S NOTE 11/23/2020: Quotes from Scott O’Reilly in this story are from interview earlier in July. We had reached out to Willhoff’s attorney but he has not responded. Jessica Noll attended Bethel-Tate High School and the same church as Willhoff​, but has no personal connections to him or the victim/s in this story.