Olympic sprinter in Richland makes deal on charge of sexting with teen

RICHLAND -- An Olympic sprinter who hopes to compete in London this summer reached a deal with prosecutors earlier this month that reduced his charge for exchanging sexual text messages with an Arizona teen.

Andrew G. Reyes, 37, of Richland, was sentenced to 30 days on the Benton County jail work crew, with 334 days suspended.

That was for his Alford plea in Benton County Superior Court to harassment, a gross misdemeanor.

The Alford plea means he denied committing the crime but believed prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. He originally was charged with communicating with a minor for immoral purposes.

Reyes is an Olympian who participated in the 2000 Sydney games for his native Liberia, and hopes to make the 2012 games.

He travels the country talking to students and organizations about setting high goals and living a positive life, and reportedly met the girl in January 2010 when invited to speak at her Mesa, Ariz., high school. The 15-year-old girl was on the school’s track team.

A month after his speaking engagement, the girl’s mother found numerous text messages from him on her daughter’s cell phone.

Police said the phone had text messages and explicit pictures Reyes had taken of himself, documents said.

The case was handled over by Benton County prosecutors because Reyes lives here, and he likely sent a majority of the 259 messages from here.

In a court document stating the reason behind the amendment, Deputy Prosecutor Anita Petra pointed out Reyes’ lack of felony criminal history and “the consensual nature of the activity.”

“This case has been extremely concerning to the State given the fact that the defendant apparently goes to various high schools to give empowerment speeches on his experiences with track,” Petra wrote.

“In this matter, he went to (Arizona) to give such a speech, then began to communicate with an underage high school girl. The communication was sexual in nature.”

The document said prosecutors opted to resolve the case this way because a majority of the witnesses would need to be flown in from Arizona to prove the issue, which appeared consensual.

* Kristin M. Kraemer: 582-1531; kkraemer@tricityherald.com

This story was originally published April 28, 2012 at 12:00 AM.