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Swim coach gets plea deal after girl reports fondling

Published  February 12, 2018 7:53am PST
Associated Press

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. -- A former youth swim coach in Washington state has pleaded guilty to a lesser crime after a girl reported that he said: "I like touching your butt."

The Kitsap Sun reports that a plea deal allowed 48-year-old Patrick Roland Hamilton to plead guilty to assault with sexual motivation.

The gross misdemeanor charge means he doesn't have to register as a sex offender.

Hamilton was initially charged in Kitsap County Superior Court with child molestation, a felony sex crime.

Prosecutors said the plea deal honored the wishes of the victims, who didn't want to go to trial.

Hamilton did have to write that he assaulted two girls for sexual gratification in May 2017.

The case began with a girl who reported that Hamilton touched her buttocks during swim practice.