Chad Little indicted on four felony counts of sexual battery

CARROLL − Chad Little, Bloom-Carroll High School's athletic director and former girls' varsity basketball coach, was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on four counts of sexual battery, all third-degree felonies.

Little, 45, was arrested Sept. 20, in response to a complaint filed in Fairfield County Common Pleas Court that alleged he unlawfully engaged in sexual conduct with a then-student athlete spanning from March 18, 2018 to Sept. 30, 2020.

When he was first arrested, he was originally charged with two counts of sexual battery, but the indictment is four counts. The first three counts alleges the sexual battery occurred between Aug. 15, 2018 and Aug. 20, 2019. The fourth count alleges it happened on or about Aug. 21, 2019 and April 4, 2020.

More: Bloom-Carroll athletic director charged with sexual battery reprimanded by state earlier

In August 2018, a complaint was made to the Ohio Department of Education that Little had allegedly committed a "boundary violation" of one of his then-student athletes.

This allegation was investigated by the state and a referral was made to children's services, according to an ODE official. No action was ultimately taken by children's services and an admonishment was made by the state.

Recently, ODE received a new complaint from the same student, sharing details about alleged sexual conduct between the two that began in 2018 when Little touched her on the way home from a district title game.

The ODE reported a possible sexual battery case on Sept. 13 to the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office in response to this complaint.

On the morning of Sept. 13, an ODE official told a deputy that she had been forwarded an email by the former student claiming that she was ready to "state allegations against Chad that she was afraid to bring up in 2018."

The alleged relationship between Little and the victim ended on Sept. 9, 2020, around the time Little received his admonishment from the state, according to the student.

Bloom-Carroll Local Schools immediately placed Little on leave following his arrest last week.

After Little's arrest, details emerged that the athletic director had entered into a consent agreement with the ODE in September 2020 to avoid suspension. At the time of this agreement, Little had been athletic director at Bloom-Carroll High School for 15 years.

Little's consent agreement included a requirement to complete 24 hours of training on professional boundaries, as well as 16 hours of community service. If Little failed to meet these requirements, the agreement stated that his pupil activity permit, professional superintendent license, professional principal license, professional intervention specialist teaching license, and professional high school teaching license, would all be suspended for at least 180 days, and that suspension would last until he complied with those terms.

If he had been suspended, Little would have been prohibited from performing any "educational activities, coaching activities or other duties within the State of Ohio that require certification or licensure through the Ohio Department of Education."

Previous reporting by Monroe Trombly of the Columbus Dispatch contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Chad Little indicted on four felony counts of sexual battery