FORMER COLLEGE COACH SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON – GLIDE HIGH CAMP – KQEN News Radio

September 4, 2024 03:40 AM

A Portland man who was the head coach of the men’s basketball team at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham was sentenced to federal prison Tuesday for persuading a child to send him sexually explicit images.

A press release from the United States Attorney’s Office (District of Oregon) states that 38-year-old Nathan Ezell Bowie has been sentenced to 162 months in prison and 20 years of probation.

According to court documents, Bowie organized a basketball camp at Glide High School in November 2021. Bowie asked students at the camp to contact him online, and the victim messaged Bowie asking for basketball practice. Bowie continued to communicate with the minor and eventually convinced her to send sexually explicit images. In January 2022, another coach learned of the communications and alerted police.

On March 15, 2022, Bowie was charged in a criminal complaint with sexual exploitation of a child, coercion and enticement, and receipt of child pornography. At the time of his arrest, Bowe was also a teaching assistant at an elementary school in Gresham.

On May 15, 2024, Bowie pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor.

The case was investigated by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and FBI Portland’s Eugene Resident Agency. It was prosecuted by Jeffrey S. Sweet, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.