An Oregon-based Olympic show jumper pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually assaulting a teenage parent and received a 30-month prison sentence.
Richard Fellers, 63, was arrested in June 2021 on four counts of sexual assault.
Maggie Kehring first met Fellers when she was 14 and said she idolized him.
When she turned 16, she confessed her feelings, which she said shocked her. She lost her virginity at 17 and their relationship continued until the Fellers’ wife, Shelly, moved in with them.
Shelly Fellers filed for divorce in March of this year.
Kehring told CBS News she was initially intimidated by his horsemanship and skills, but now sees him as ‘a sociopath.’
Fellers, reached in court Tuesday, told KOIN 6 News he had no comment on the plea agreement.
Richard Fellers, 63, was seen appearing in court in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty to interstate travel to engage in unlawful sexual conduct with a minor
Maggie Kehring (right) first met Fellers when she was 14. He is depicted in his June 2021 mug shot
Kehring says he idolized the famous horseman: he now thinks he’s ‘a sociologist’
He agreed to plead guilty to interstate travel to engage in unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
The age of consent in Oregon is 18.
The Washington County District Attorney’s Office told KOIN 6 News that Fellers agreed to serve 30 months in prison on the state charges, while he served four years on the federal charges.
Fellers, who runs a large equestrian operation in Oregon City, 20 miles south of downtown Portland, was suspended in June 2021 by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
Born in Oregon, he was given a horse for his 11th birthday and soon established himself as a local champion.
In 1989 he purchased a stable yard outside of Portland where he now resides, currently valued at $1.8 million.
She first represented the United States in 1991, when she was part of the bronze-winning US showjumping team at the Pan-American Games in Havana, Cuba.
Fellers was sixth at the London 2012 Olympics on Flexible, a 16-year-old stallion who started riding in 2002.
At the time, Shelley Fellers praised her husband of 25 years as ‘a great husband, a great partner’.
He added: ‘He hates being away from his children and family.’
The Fellers have two grown children, Christopher and Savannah.
Fellers competed in two showjumping events at the 2012 Olympics, placing sixth and eighth.
Kehring is pictured at a showjumping event in Florida in January 2021
The Fellers bought this equestrian estate in 1989. It is now worth $1.8 million
Kehring left his family in California to move in with the show jumper and his wife.
She claims that a dark turn took place when she was 16 and she told him she loved him.
She told CBS News: ‘I got this call and he said: ‘I have this feeling for you, it’s been building for the last six months, you can’t tell anyone, I’m crazy about you.’
‘I sat in my room and cried for the rest of the day.’
Kehring called Fellers ‘a sociopath’ who used his position as a mentor and respected ‘father figure’ to advance her when she was a minor.
He first met Fellers at age 14 and idolized him.
Kehring credited Fellers – who finished sixth and eighth in the London 2012 showjumping event – for opening up the elite and competitive sport to him.
She said that after Fellers confessed his feelings for her when she was 16, he kept asking her to have sex with him, even though she said no.
Fellers pictured after winning the Rolex FEI World Cup Jumping Final in the Netherlands in 2012
Fellers pictured at the 2012 Olympics in Greenwich Park, London. He came sixth and eighth in two showjumping events.
Although Kehring kept turning down his proposals, she said she finally felt cornered and said yes.
‘It shouldn’t have happened,’ said Kehring.
‘And I said ‘no’ before it started. I said ‘no’ in the beginning, I said ‘no’ more than once.’
Kehring said the relationship ended in July 2020 when Shelley walked with them at a horse show in Michigan.
Fellers was arrested on June 7, 2021 by the Tualatin Police Department in Oregon, who conducted a months-long investigation into the matter following a tip from the US Center for SafeSport, a nonprofit focused on ending all forms of abuse in sports.
They received multiple anonymous tip-offs about Fellers’ alleged abuse of Kehring.
Kehring said in a statement released by his attorneys, ‘I have regained strength by protecting others and making sure no one else is harmed by this same experience.’
‘I am grateful for the work the Tualatin Police Department and FBI have done for me and others in similar situations.’