HOLLAND, MI (WHTC) – Former West Ottawa High School teacher and coach Matthew Allan Powell has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and 24 months of probation for kissing and groping a female student.
The Holland Sentinel claims that, in documents obtained under Freedom of Information Act requests, Athletic Director Pat Marsman knew about an “inappropriate relationship” between Powell and a 16-year-old female student prior to an arrest last March when the coach allegedly groped a girl in a car parked in Allendale Township.
The coach was suspended and subsequently fired when the criminal allegations surfaced. Powell agreed to not contest a fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct charge.
The Sentinal reported from the courthouse that the mother of the victim, who was 16 years old at the time of the crime, read a statement from the victim in court Monday.
