48-Year-Old Ex-Coach Sentenced to Prison in Assault

A former coach in Bethesda, Md., was sentenced Friday to prison for sexually abusing a high school student.

United States attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew M. Graves said 48-year-old Kirkland Shipley, who was a teacher and girls’ rowing coach at Walt Whitman High School, was sentenced by Judge Maribeth Raffinan.

Following his prison term, Shipley will be placed on two years of probation. He also will be required to register for the rest of his life as a sex offender.

RELATED: Rowing Coach Accused of Abusing Female Student 

According to a release, Shipley, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty on June 3 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to first-degree sexual abuse of a secondary education student and possession of a sexual performance by a minor.

According to the government’s evidence, one of the victims was on the girls’ crew team at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, from 2014 to 2018. Shipley was her head coach from her sophomore year to her senior year, as well as her history and geography teacher. During her sophomore year of high school, Shipley began texting the victim about rowing and personal matters. This continued into her senior year, in which Shipley began to text the victim more frequently and about increasingly personal topics. On at least two occasions in May 2018, prior to this victim’s graduation, he picked the victim up in his car and sexually abused her at his residence in Northwest Washington.

NEWS ALERT: Ex-rowing coach at Bethesda school sentenced to 3 years in prison for sexual misconduct with 2 students. https://t.co/gIGppky58w

— WTOP (@WTOP) September 9, 2022

The other victim was on the girls’ crew team at Walt Whitman High School from 2009—2013. Shipley was her head coach from her sophomore year to her senior year. He also was this victim’s history teacher during her junior year. During the spring of the victim’s senior year, Shipley began to message her on GChat more frequently, about rowing and personal matters. A month after her graduation, in July 2013, when the victim was 17 years old, Shipley invited her to his residence in Washington, D.C., and had sex with her. He continued having sex with this victim throughout the summer and after she began college in the fall of 2013. Shipley possessed sexually explicit photos and videos of the victim, while she was a 17-year-old minor. He also sent this victim nude photos and videos of himself.