Charges dismissed, but former Olympian loses job, career

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All charges against a U.S. college softball coach and Olympian from Blenheim have been dismissed, leaving her with no record but with a damaged career.

“It is bittersweet,” Meaggan Pettipiece, 48, said. “I’m happy, obviously, the charges were dismissed. The sad part is the damage it did to my career. It has changed everything in my life.”

Pettipiece was charged March 28 in Porter County, Ind., for theft, possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance after an incident at a WalMart self-checkout.

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She resigned a few days later as head coach of the NCAA Division 1 softball team at Valparaiso University in Indiana.

The arrest made headlines throughout the state, in nearby Chicago, Illinois, and her hometown southeast of Chatham and Southwestern Ontario.

All charges were dismissed Sept. 19, according to the Indiana department of justice.

“It’s been five months, a living nightmare. I lost my career, I lost my job, the life I was building and it’s been really difficult,” Pettipiece said from her home in Ohio.

She was arrested after WalMart security observed some items, including ham and asparagus, worth $67, were not scanned at a self-checkout, according to a Chicago Tribune story at the time.

She paid for other merchandise worth $176, the news report said.

After she was arrested, Pettipiece was found with three disposable vapes in her purse. She also had two unopened blister packs containing Zofran, an anti-nausea medication, according to news reports.

“It was so ridiculous,” Pettipiece said.

She didn’t know the scanner hadn’t read the items, Pettipiece said.

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The vape was neither nicotine nor THC-based, she said.

The pills were a prescription and belonged to an assistant coach. The coach had asked her to put them in her purse when they were heading into a softball game a few days earlier, because the coach didn’t want to bring her purse to the game, Pettipiece said.

“We both forgot about them,” she said.

The Valparaiso Beacons softball team announced her resignation April 1, stopping a career trajectory that began with an All-American playing career and championship at California University of Pennsylvania.

Pettipiece also played softball for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Games and was an alternate for the 2004 Olympic team.

Her coaching career began at her alma mater and included stints at colleges in Michigan and Ohio, before taking the head coaching job at Valparaiso.

“The softball community is a tightknit group and it (the news) went through like wildfire. You really do learn who the people are that really believe in you and trust you and are truly a friend for you,” Pettipiece said.

The court proceedings were delayed once and a hearing was set for later this month. But last week, her lawyer submitted an application for dismissal that included her account of the incident, proof of her assistant’s prescription and character reference letters, she said.

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After reading the application, justice officials dismissed the charges, Pettipiece said

While coaching at Valparaiso, she was living in Indiana with her family home still in Ohio. That’s been one silver lining, heading back home, Pettipiece said.

“I’m happy my family’s all back together. We sacrificed as a family for me to be there coaching and continuing my coaching career.”

But the career has “damage that can’t be reversed,” she said, wondering aloud if coverage of the dismissed charges have the same reach as the stories of the charges.

“The tough thing is, how do you get out to people that you are innocent? And this damage was done for something so ridiculous,” Pettipiece said.

The dismissal of charges means she can teach again, but she’s thinking about building a career as a softball umpire at the collegiate level rather than coaching, Pettipiece said.

“I’m not sure of the future. For now, I’m going to stay at home and focus on my kids. I’d like to figure out which direction I’m going to go in.”

rrichmond@postmedia.com

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