Ann Arbor hacky sack player sentenced to 5 months in jail
A championship hacky sack player from Ann Arbor will spend the next five months in the Washtenaw County Jail for sexually assaulting a girl for several years, court records show.
Gregory Nelson, 42, was sentenced to jail time and roughly $4,200 in fines for sexual assaults that date back to 1996, court records show.
The 12-time world doubles hacky sack champion pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in July. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to two years in prison. Prosecutors dismissed four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct as part of the deal.
Nelson, who is also a professional Frisbee player, was charged in April after the now 17-year-old woman divulged the incidents to a friend.
Washtenaw Circuit Judge David Swartz credited Nelson with three days served in jail. He also ordered him to seek substance abuse treatment and to register with Michigan’s Sex Offender Registry.
Art Aisner is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.
Comments
maxmouse
Sat, Sep 11, 2010 : 2:07 a.m.
i just have to post this... after reading some of these coments i can't belive some people.... here is a child who is being molested and all you can think is she is not being truthful lets look at this in a different light...did you stop to think that she may have been afraid to tell about this.... or that if she did tell something bad may happen to her or her family?... most children would think that... i personaly feel that he should be under the jail not in it... seriously 5 months... this girl must live with this the rest of her life... she was violated by someone who she trusted... i can say all this as i know those involved and i can say that this child's story has nevered waviered.... so all those who think he said she said need to think again about how a child would handle this...and remember we all need to protect them.... 5 months this makes me sick... the prosecuter should be in there with him for making this deal what a shame... i say remove them from thier position before they make this mistake again... one more thing what would you want if this was your child....
Mick52
Mon, Sep 6, 2010 : 10:39 p.m.
There are a lot of reasons for a plea bargain like this, cases are not always a slam dunk. I am sure that this plea agreement is in the best interests of all involved. It does seem low, but if it is the best that could be achieved, so be it.
Brad
Sat, Sep 4, 2010 : 8:32 a.m.
I'm pretty sure that your "presumption of innocence" ends when you plead guilty and are sentenced. I guess if he said himself that he's guilty then I'll take his word for it.
Patrice Luther
Fri, Sep 3, 2010 : 12:33 p.m.
It is unacceptable that sexual abuse to a child be punishable by only 5 months in jail. Judge David Swartz is not the kind of official I want in office.
bunnyabbot
Fri, Sep 3, 2010 : 12:10 p.m.
@voice. I think we can assume he is quilty if he pled quilty. I think he should also assume people will assume he is quilty with pleading quilty and now registering as a sex offender. we probably will not know any of the facts, well except the fact that he pleaded quilty, which we can base out assumtion of quilt on.
d_a2
Fri, Sep 3, 2010 : 12:01 p.m.
@Voice Couldn't agree with you more (and no i'm not defending the guy) @AnnArbor.Com Staff- Show a little more consistency with removing comments "that violate your guidelines". It seems to me like comments are removed on the judgement of each individual reporter and his individual take on the story. Half these comments attacking the guy would have been removed if it was a story involving Ypsilanti and a resident out of West Willow.
boom
Fri, Sep 3, 2010 : 10:49 a.m.
Good point voice.
just a voice
Fri, Sep 3, 2010 : 10:19 a.m.
wow, I'm amazed at how many people assume he is guilty. We know nothing, it is possible that the acusations are totaly false, and he took a plea for very minor offence to keep the trial from happening. It seems a general theme on the comment posts here, total assumption of guilt, without the facts.
Dark Dichotomy
Fri, Sep 3, 2010 : 2:11 a.m.
BTW, I would just like to know the name of the attorney. Apparently they can turn decades into days.
katie
Thu, Sep 2, 2010 : 9:31 p.m.
I'd like to see the story rewritten or a new one. Forget the Hacky Sack headline. What were the offenses and exactly when did they occur? How about some statistics about this type of crime and sentences of others for similar offenses in our court system. There really should be a story about the judge and perhaps the system that does not punish serious offenders of this kind. It makes the world much less safe than it could be. Another story might be what needs to be done to change the system.
just a voice
Thu, Sep 2, 2010 : 7:56 p.m.
what I find very strange is almost no details have come out about what and when happened, did find this; Police say Nelson allegedly molested the girl for several years starting when she was 4-years-old from http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/washtenaw_county/professional-hacky-sack-player-pleads-guilty-to-fourth-degree-criminal-sexual-conduct
John of Saline
Thu, Sep 2, 2010 : 4:56 p.m.
The headline, when read quickly, implies hacky sack is a crime....
YpsiLivin
Thu, Sep 2, 2010 : 4:25 p.m.
Five months? Really?
Dark Dichotomy
Thu, Sep 2, 2010 : 3:56 p.m.
Four counts of second degree sexual conduct dropped to a fourth degree misdemeanor? If the math is right the victim would have been about 3 years old when it started. Five months and fines? Fines? Be sure to tell the victim, "It's okay honey, the state profitted from your sexual assaults." I suppose the state just wanted to make her a prostitute.
Jeff Renner
Thu, Sep 2, 2010 : 3:53 p.m.
There is an inconsistency among the three annarbor.com stories on this. The May article by Lee Higgins says that the assaults occurred seven years earlier. This article says that the assaults go back to 1996, and your July article says "offenses date back to January 1996." If the date 1996 is correct, this means that the victim was only three years old. Does the phrase "assaulting a girl for several years" in your lead mean that the assaults occurred over a period of seven years (1996-2003)? If so, I think that the word "several" hardly covers it, although I guess that seven is several. Can you clear this up?
djm12652
Thu, Sep 2, 2010 : 3:18 p.m.
Well, here's hoping the victim can work out a plea deal on the other four counts most likely remembered...how about that prosecutor folks? Okay...so this guy only gets 5 months...what a joke...and who gives a flying hackey sack if he was a champion? Chumpion is even too good for him...what a pile of scat!