Prosecutor: Former high school coach accused of sexual battery to take plea agreement
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DRIGGS — A former high school wrestling coach that was indicted on charges of sexual battery of a minor will not go to trial and instead, intends to take a plea agreement.
Jeffrey Gregg Wilkes was a teacher, wrestling and football coach at Teton High School in Teton School District 401. Wilkes was charged with two felony counts of sexual battery of a minor child last year.
Teton County Prosecutor Bailey Smith said in a news release Monday that Wilkes entered a plea agreement stemming from alleged misconduct toward a female student in 2017.
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He was 29 years old when he had sexual contact with a 17-year-old girl in December 2017, according to a news release. In an indictment back in November, it said he placed himself on top of the teen and performed wrestling moves on her as she was lying face-down on the floor grading papers. He allegedly pressed his genitals into her body and ejaculated.
Wilkes was also accused of sending texts seeking repayment and/or “bribes” from the victim.
In the news release Monday, it said Wilkes will plead guilty to the charges of felony injury to a child, and misdemeanor sexual battery. Amended criminal information will be filed following his guilty plea. The maximum penalty for felony injury to child is 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. The maximum penalty for misdemeanor sexual battery is one year incarceration and a $2,000 fine.
Per the terms of the plea agreement, Wilkes agrees to refrain from working or volunteering as a coach or teacher or otherwise having any unsupervised contact with juveniles, the news release said.
He agrees that the court’s no-contact order prohibiting him from having any contact with his victim will remain in place. He additionally agrees to complete all treatment recommended in a psychosexual examination conducted in April.
Counsel for the state and the defendant have asked the court to set a change-of-plea hearing at the next possible district court date which is anticipated to be in early June.