I mean the prisons could really start expanding all the mustang programs if all these pros keep ending up there!
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Folks, Heās charged with 4 ācā felonies. Max. sentence 5 years each. His ājail timeā will likely be very minimal if heās convicted of all. What will be the most burdensome will be the sex offender treatment and possible sex offender registration, not prison. Oregon has pretty harsh sex offense statutes though these charges are relatively light compared to what they could have charged. Richās lawyer is probably worth every penny Rich is paying him.
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This is going to be a real blow to the āif the allegations are true, the criminal justice system should decideā people.
All the power to Ms. Kehring. I hope her and any other victims get all the support and help they need.
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We removed some posts containing or referencing allegations about another individual against whom charges have not been filed/reported upon.
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āFolks, Heās charged with 4 ācā felonies. Max. sentence 5 years each. His ājail timeā will likely be very minimal if heās convicted of all. What will be the most burdensome will be the sex offender treatment and possible sex offender registration, not prison. Oregon has pretty harsh sex offense statutes though these charges are relatively light compared to what they could have charged. Richās lawyer is probably worth every penny Rich is paying him.ā
With C Felonies there is a possibility of pleading to less. If he pled to just misdemeanors could he theoretically be reinstated to USEF?
A guilty plea to a lesser charge still brings the full weight of a lifetime ban, because of the nature of the offense. They have a clause that says āif you plead guilty toā¦ā to cover instances of lesser charges in a plea bargain. For Richard, there is no way out of this apart from working out a plea deal that is lesser in Prison time, which will certainly be on the table. Keep in mind that these are just the charges from the local law enforcement. Based on what has been said, Richard Fellers is still under investigation by the FBI for Human Trafficking, due to the traveling involved in his business and the Winter At Wellyworld trips, so other charges may be filed, as the investigation moves forward and other victims are found, through the ongoing questioning and investigation in multiple states.
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Yikes.
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It doesnāt necessarily mean that he DID anything in that regard, but it does mean that the information supplied to the FBI by the local Police and Maggie Kehring (and others) was enough to trigger the āWe ought to spend time and money looking into this fellaā¦ā alarm, so they have questioned and are questioning people in multiple states. Likely, the female former young riders and such. Weāll have to wait and see if anything comes of it.
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How much do we want to bet that that investigation is gonna implicate some other big names in the industry?
Chickens are coming home folksā¦
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Good points.
The human trafficking investigation angle is interesting. There are more than a couple stories about upper level competitors who have harassed their own working studentsā¦ or fellow competitors working studentsā¦ while on the road for shows in different states. To date, much of the focus has been on whether people had reached the age of consent, and even if they had, if the power imbalance was such that these ārelationshipsā still were abusive in key waysā¦ but there has not been much of a look at these situations from a human trafficking angle. And honestlyā¦ there should be. Grooms and working students are especially vulnerable when traveling away from their home base, where they may have more of a support system if attempted abuse happens.
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Everyoneā¦ better stock up on popcornā¦ going to have some good trials to follow coming up.
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I wouldnāt doubt for the smallest comprehensible measurement of time that a heterosexual equivalent to George Morrisā supposed group exists, with young female working students and such passed around like gardening tools, from one neighbor to another.
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If you refer to my (far) above post about Maggie competing at GLEF, made when this started to snowball, youāll recall that Richard took the barn there as well. Records had her competing solo and not with him and his barn, so she had broken free at that point, but on social media, Richard claimed her as a member of his barn, not acknowledging her split from him and attaching her success there to his name and business. Thatās telling, especially since he had apparently never competed there before and it looks like he only did so to get close to Maggie, possibly for harassment or attempted reconciliation before he got nailed by authorities, since he would have known about the investigation at that point.
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This is false. Maggie was training with him at GLEF. I think was FEI reasons that she wasnt stabled with. him. But I very much agree with the fact that he is one of the most discussing human beings around and there are some things we will never know about this case.
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If such a ring doesnāt currently existā¦ it certainly seems like it did in a prior era in SoCal. There is quite a collection of names down there that all operated at the same time:
JW
RG
John Lipari (heās deceased - never went on the SafeSport list but the San Diego Union-Tribune published an article interviewing multiple victims of his in 2018)
Bob McDonald (his SafeSport investigation ran into procedural issues, but the OC Register published an article with detailed comments and stories from his accusers in February 2021)
Those are just the immediate names that come to mind from a certain era in SoCal, and some of them had a bit of overlap in terms of young women who were working students or riders for them, one of which has publicly stepped forward as an abuse victim. And then there are the additional names from that area, who have repeatedly and loudly defended some of these names, and engaged in some serious smearing of victimsā¦
It sure looks like there was a bit of a āde factoā predatory ring of some sort there, and there CERTAINLY are many older professionals still operating in that area who have been very vocal about wishing that people would just let the sleeping dogs lieā¦
But then reports come out like the most recent one involving a 60 year old professional and a 17 year old student. And this is recentā¦ the whole ālet it go - it was the swinging 70āsā defense doesnāt applyā¦ wellā¦ with that most recent report I really hope people can finally lock on and realize that letting the sleeping dogs lie is problematic, because this crap will continue unless/until consequences happen for the people who prey on young athletes.
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@HorseyGal1 - Heās 61 now. I seriously doubt this case is the first time this sort of inappropriate behavior has happened with a very young/underage woman who was a student or employee ā¦
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I totally agree! I have heard that he often had affairs outside of his marriage.
He is a pedophile. The fact that he did this to an underage girl, and let alone a girl that has trained with him since she was a preteen is very telling. He groomed her for this.
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The good news is that Maggie is receiving overwhelming support for coming forward and she is standing her ground, vowing to see that justice is served against Richard Fellers. The bad news is that this is worse - figuratively speaking - than initially thought. Hereās the short and sour summary of what happened. The abuse started when she was 16, so thereās a big chunk of show calendar and mileage for her to have been abused by Richard Fellers, which includes trips with him to various places for competition and business. Her friends knew about the abuse and they encouraged her to come forward, after seeing her break down again and again. In her mind, suicide was on the table, though she has not stated that she attempted it at any point. Maggie says there are āother girlsā, hence the FBI getting involved and the human trafficking possibility, as he may have done this for years, focusing on one victim at a time.
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Well, Heās not the only jumper in Oregon with a specific reputation exactly as you described, married to a woman with a certain first nameā¦ maybe you confused him for the other guy?
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