Oregon Coach Set for Trial in Sex Case

(Coquille, Oregon) In February 2009, a 36-year-old track coach at Coquille High School, Wendi Boutiette, was arrested for the alleged sexual abuse of at least one of her athletes, a male teen.

The married mother-of-two faced charges of second-degree sexual abuse, contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor and sexual misconduct. Boutiette was booked and released.

Following Boutiette's arrest, Coquille police investigators seized more than 200 "bra and panty" photos from her home as evidence. In March, Boutiette's attorney, David Terry, demanded the return of the "lingerie" photos and subpoenaed Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier and Coquille Police Chief Mark Dannels to appear in court on the issue. Unfortunately, Mr. Terry sent them to the Coquille court while the proceedings were held in North Bend.

“The subpoena directed me to appear in Coquille,” Frasier said. “I don’t know what Mr. Terry is doing.”

Nevertheless, Frasier recused himself due to a conflict of interest and gave the case over to Douglas County Deputy DA Shannon Sullivan who said she is holding the photos until they have been adequately reviewed.

Meanwhile, Chief Dannels made four copies of the photos and passed them around to his staff -- as part of the investigation, of course.

This week, Boutiette appeared in North Bend Circuit Court and rejected a plea offer from the prosecution.

David Terry, says they opted against a plea deal.

"The offer was for her to plead to the two misdemeanors and they would throw out the felonies and that's unacceptable to my client, she didn't do anything wrong, and she's continued to maintain that."

As a result, Boutiette's trial on felony and misdemeanor counts of sexual abuse with a minor has been scheduled by Judge Paula Bechtold for October. Meanwhile, Terry requested to have Boutiette's successful lie detector test results admitted as evidence.

No news has been found on what ultimately happened with the "lingerie" photos.