Image
© Jefferson County Sheriff's OfficeMelissa Bowerman, 43, of Fossil
Melissa Bowerman, the daughter-in-law of Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman and head track and field coach at Madras High School, was arrested Monday on sex abuse allegations involving a 17-year-old boy on the team.

State police got a tip that Bowerman, 43, "was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a juvenile male," they said in a news release. She has been coaching the team for two years, police said.

Troopers arrested Bowerman at her home in Fossil. She was taken to the Jefferson County Jail in Madras on suspicion of second-degree sexual abuse, luring a minor, second-degree online sexual corruption of a child and contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor. The first three accusations are felonies and the fourth is a misdemeanor.

The allegations cover conduct since May, police said.

Jon Bowerman, Melissa Bowerman's husband, said authorities served a search warrant at the couple's house early Monday and searched his wife's computers, cameras and other belongings. He wasn't home at the time, he said.

"I'm still in a state of shock," Jon Bowerman told The Oregonian. The two have been married six years and he helped his wife coach the Madras track team, he said.

He hasn't been able to talk to his wife since her arrest, Bowerman said. Her arraignment was scheduled for Tuesday, he said.

"She's still my wife, I still love her and still will no matter how this thing turns out," said Bowerman, 76.

State investigators said they're concerned about other alleged victims and asked anyone with information to call the Oregon State Police Northern Command Center dispatch at 800-452-7888.

In May 2012, Melissa Bowerman, whose late father-in-law invented the waffle-soled running shoe and co-founded Nike with Phil Knight, was dismissed as the volunteer Condon/Wheeler track coach after she escorted a 17-year-old boy to the Condon High School prom. She had been coaching the team with her husband.

"We all should have learned from that," Jon Bowerman said Monday.

At the time, Brad Sperry, athletic director of Wheeler High School and superintendent of the Fossil School District, told The Oregonian: "All I will say for the record is that there is way more to that story than just a date to the prom and no comment on anything else. It's very unfortunate it ever got to this point. ... A thing like this, there's two sides. One side normally talks, and the other can't talk."

Gilliam County Sheriff Gary Bettencourt, who received a complaint from a chaperone, said he has found no evidence that Bowerman broke the law.

Bowerman said attending the prom with a boy from the track team was an error in judgment, but she felt bad because he didn't have a date and was struggling in English class. She said the two did not have an inappropriate relationship.

Rory Oster, who just left his job as Madras High's athletic director in June for a similar job in Camas, said the Madras school brought in Melissa and Jon Bowerman as volunteer coaches to start "and monitored them closely."

"They did a fantasic job with the program, so we moved them to co-head coach last year," Oster said. "I'm still trying to figure out how this could happen."