Main Line coach admits racy texts to teen

A former tennis coach at a Main Line girls' school pleaded guilty Wednesday to corruption charges for sending suggestive texts to a 15-year-old player on his team in 2013.

Charles Meredith, 54, coached the girl for about two years at the Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic college preparatory school in Radnor Township.

Meredith was fired from the school in October 2013 and arrested that December after an investigation by police from Delaware County and Radnor and Lower Merion Townships.

At the hearing before Montgomery County Court Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy in Norristown, Meredith pleaded guilty to a count of corruption of minors. He is expected to be sentenced this year.

At a 2014 hearing, the victim testified that Meredith sent her several texts offering to buy her alcoholic drinks and containing suggestive messages, such as "you're so hot."

She said she never replied to the texts "in any sexual way," instead trying to turn the conversation back to tennis. But Meredith didn't stop texting her.

In August 2013, she went with Meredith to the SuperFit gym in Plymouth Township after he told her they were going to meet a personal trainer named "Big Daddy," she said.

The trainer wasn't there. Instead, she said, Meredith kissed her for two to three minutes in the parking lot before taking her for ice cream. He also told her not to tell anyone about the kisses.

The victim eventually told her mother about the texts after a postseason dinner when, she said, he texted her that she was going to be "his dessert."

The West Conshohocken man was initially charged with two counts of corruption of minors for the kisses and the texting.

Assistant District Attorney Kristen Feden said prosecutors agreed to drop the charges related to the kissing so the girl would not have to testify again. But Feden said the victim, now 16, is likely to appear at sentencing and ask for jail time for her former coach.

State guidelines suggest a term between probation and nine months in jail. Feden said she would seek a term that includes jail time.

"He was in a position of authority," the case prosecutor said. "He took advantage of that position of authority and preyed on a minor - a minor who trusted him and who looked up to him."

Meredith, who had been free on bail, and his lawyer, James Freeman, left the courtroom without commenting.