Ex-OSU Star Gets Life For Rape

Former Ohio State track star Chris Nelloms was sentenced Friday to life in prison for raping a young girl and will not be eligible for parole for 40 years.

"It's a bitter pill to swallow when one of the chosen such as you falls so low," Judge John Kessler of Montgomery County Common Pleas Court said.

Kessler sentenced Nelloms to life on each of seven counts of rape of a child younger than 13 and one count of felonious sexual penetration of a child less than 13. The judge ordered that four of the sentences be served consecutively, making Nelloms ineligible for parole for 40 years.

Kessler also designated Nelloms a sexual predator, meaning Nelloms will be required upon release from prison to tell authorities where he will live.

Nelloms was convicted Jan. 8 of sexually assaulting the girl, now 12, in homes in Dayton and Lexington, Ky., from 1995 to 1997. Nelloms denied the charges.

"My 12-year-old daughter was raped, and nobody knows what I'm going through," the girl's mother said before sentencing, turning her gaze to Nelloms. "Maybe one day I can forgive him."

Before sentencing, Nelloms sobbed as he addressed the judge.

Nelloms said he hopes someone "will have mercy on me and forgive me and that my family will understand."

After sentencing, James Smith, Nelloms' father, said his son had told him he was innocent.

"My son says he didn't do it. I do believe him," Smith said. "I'm waiting for something to break, something to give, so we can know what the truth is."

Assistant Montgomery County prosecutor Angela Frydman called it a "case of the most serious magnitude and consequences."

"A small child was raped, and a man manipulated her, frightened her and scared her into keeping that secret for quite some time," Frydman said.

Nelloms, 27, of Trotwood, set several school sprint records at Ohio State.

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