Karns City Softball Coach Accused Of Sending Nude Photos To Player Has Most Serious Charge Dropped

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The most serious charge against a local, volunteer softball coach was dropped on Tuesday after he was accused of sending nude photos to a player.

Nathan Ridley, 39, showed up in court on Tuesday in a wheelchair, but it was unclear why.

What was clear as he left was that the most serious charge against him was dropped.

"It's dissemination of obscene material to a minor," said Ridley's attorney Al Lindsay. "It's a serious, anything you do with a minor is more serious."

Police say that Ridley sent nude photo of two women to a 17-year-old player on the Karns City Area High School softball team.

"The charges were that he had shown certain pictures, which were perceived to be obscene, which remains to be seen because I don't know that they were," Lindsay said.

Because the girl wasn't in court to testify, the judge decided to drop that charge.

"In this particular case, the witness was not here and would not have testified," Lindsay said. "They would have done it by hearsay and my client was of course relieved to get that felony dropped."

The girl told police that Ridley befriended her, driving her to and from games and eventually asked her to spend the night at his home in Chicora.

Police say after that night that Ridley started sending the girl inappropriate messages on social media.

When police questioned him, he said he was "just being a pervert."

Ridley is also charged with corruption of a minor, but the charge was downgraded on Tuesday.

"The corruption of minors is what we call a lesser included offense," Lindsay said. "In other words, it's part of the other offense. The prosecutors have the discretion to grade it and in this particular case, the prosecutor was willing to drop this down to a misdemeanor. And we're relieved."

Ridley is due back in court in March.