Ryder Sommers, 21, of Fayette was indicted by a Williams County grand jury on April 18 on three counts of sexual battery, third degree felonies, as well as one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a fourth degree felony. On the same day, a Fulton County grand jury also issued an indictment on Sommers for one count of sexual battery, also a third degree felony.
In Williams County, Sommer is accused of having sex with a 14 year old girl and a 16 year old girl in 2016. That indictment indicates that Sommers was the cheer coach for both girls.
Sommers had previously been the coach of the Youth and Tiny Class Act All-Star competitive cheer teams at NWO Elite Athletics Gym located in Montpelier. However, he was released in February and it is unknown if the girls in the indictment were associated with that team.
Williams County court records indicate that Sommers has retained Lorin J. Zaner, Esquire as council and that the two appeared together in court on April 19 to issue a plea of not guilty on all charges of the indictment. A final pretrial conference is scheduled for May 7, 2017 in Fulton County and May 15, 2017 in Williams County.
Records also indicate that Sommers was released on a personal recognizance bond subject to the terms and conditions that he not reside at his permanent residence and not relocate without the permission of the court as well as that he have no contact, either direct or indirect, with the alleged minor victims or their families, or any unsupervised contact with juveniles under the age of eighteen.
Editor’s Note, 1:45 p.m., Saturday, April 29th, 2017
Administration at the Fayette Local School District noted on Facebook that Mr. Sommers has never worked at their School District via social media. The article above and/or original headline did not indicate that he worked for any school district, thus no association with the Fayette Local School District. Court records indicate that he is a citizen of the Village of Fayette thus the “Fayette” reference listed within the headline and article. We have modified the original headline to eliminate public assumption that Mr. Sommers worked at the school which was never stated in the headline or detailed article. Court records for well over a century always include the place of residency of the accused, including with our weekly Police & Court Log pages.