A former girl’s soccer coach who confessed to sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in his own bedroom will not spend a day behind bars.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Rebecca L. Noonan, 33, admitted to having sex with the underage teen in his bedroom while his mother wasn’t home. The 33-year-old was sentenced this week to supervised probation for up to 10 years in connection with the 2014 incident.
The ex-soccer coach was friends with the 13-year-old’s mother. Court documents stated that she told the victim not to tell what happened because she would go to jail. The boy told a sibling, who ultimately called police, according to WCCO.
Noonan joined Champlin Park High School’s soccer program as an assistant coach in 2007 and became a head coach in 2012. The Minnesota woman also ran a soccer camp on campus during the summer.
A district spokesman told the local paper that school officials declined to renew her contract in 2015, around the time she faced criminal charges.
Noonan pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct but claimed to be “so drunk or so under the influence of drugs or medicine” at the time that she didn’t realize what she was doing.
Despite this admission, defense attorney Scott Lewis said his client has maintained her innocence and only accepted the plea deal because it was “essentially an acquittal without the risk of a trial.”
As part of the plea deal, Noonan is also ordered to have no contact with the victim, not use alcohol or illegal drugs, not possess weapons, and undergo mental health treatment, the local paper reports.
The case will be dismissed altogether if Noonan doesn’t violate the terms of her probation.
[Featured Image: Anoka County Jail]