PORTLAND — A community college coach and Gresham elementary school worker has been arrested on accusations that he solicited explicit material from a teenager he met at a basketball camp in southern Oregon.
Nathan Ezell Bowie was charged Friday with using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and second-degree online sexual corruption of a child, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
The Gresham-Barlow School District said in a statement that Bowie had been put on administrative leave from Hall Elementary School. Jessica Roberts, an associate vice president at Mt. Hood Community College, said Bowie has also been placed on administrative leave from his men’s basketball head coaching position.
Bowie, 35, of Portland started communicating with the teenager after meeting her while leading a November basketball camp at Glide High School, according to a probable cause affidavit. He has led similar camps throughout the state, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said Bowie encouraged Glide student-athletes to follow him on Instagram and struck up a private conversation with one. A Glide coach discovered the “inappropriate” messages and alerted authorities in January, court records show.
Bowie solicited explicit videos and images from the girl and threatened her to send more or he would post previous ones online, court documents say.
The teen told sheriff’s deputies that Bowie had asked whether she would meet him at an upcoming basketball game at Umpqua Community College to have sex with him in a team van, court records say.
Bowie told law enforcement he was not planning to have sexual contact with her. He is being held at the Douglas County Jail on $250,000 bail. It wasn’t immediately known if he has a lawyer to comment on his behalf.
Bowie was a standout basketball player at several central Arkansas colleges and declared for the 2008 NBA Development League Draft but was not selected. He also played for various overseas professional basketball teams.
