Couple that accused Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner of sexual assault facing criminal fraud charges
A couple who accused Georgia Tech basketball coach Josh Pastner of sexual assault are facing criminal fraud charges in Arizona related to the allegations.
Oro Valley Magistrate Court records obtained by ESPN show that Ron Bell — a former friend of Pastner — and his girlfriend Jennifer Pendley stand accused of engaging “in a plan or scheme ... to allege a false, fraudulent accusation of sexual assault against Josh Pastner with the goal of obtaining an anticipated civil monetary settlement/judgment.”
The couple accused Pastner of sexually assaulting Pendley in a Houston hotel room in 2016. Pastner denied the allegations and was cleared by a Title IX investigation conducted by the university in 2018.
Pastner accused of attempting to force oral sex
Pastner was the head coach at Memphis at the time of the allegations. The couple accused him of masturbating in front of Pendley and attempting to force her to have oral sex in the hotel room while Bell was in the shower and harassing Pendley during the following year.
Pastner filed a civil lawsuit in 2018 in response to the accusations.
Bell and Pendley countersued, making details of their accusations public.
Lawyer: ‘Malicious lie ... blackmail’
Pastner’s attorney characterized the accusations at the time as a lie and a continued effort to extort Pastner after Bell previously threatened to expose that Pastner participated in NCAA violations pertaining to impermissible benefits.
“In this era of women courageously coming forward to report valid claims of sexual assault and harassment, we are saddened and outraged that Mr. Bell and Ms. Pendley have concocted a malicious lie to blackmail and harm a family that only showed compassion toward them,” Pastner’s attorney Scott Tompsett said at the time.
According to ESPN, Pendley called police on May 8 and accused Pastner of the sexual assault, the first time she reported the alleged assault to law enforcement more than three years after she claimed it took place.
Accusers facing several fraud charges
Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Pendley last week after she twice failed to appear in court on charges of facilitation of a fraud scheme practice, facilitation of influencing a witness and facilitation of tampering with a witness, according to records.
Bell was charged in March of solicitation of a fraud scheme practice, solicitation of influencing witness, attempted tampering with a witness, use of an electronic communication to terrify, intimidate, threaten or harass and impersonating a public servant, according to the report.
Alleged witness tampering
Records state that both Bell and Pendley allegedly coerced Georgia Tech security guard Chris Meegan into bearing “false witness against Josh Pastner to a false, fraudulent accusation of sexual assault in exchange for an offer of a portion of an anticipated civil monetary settlement/judgment."
Meegan has admitted he previously lied about witnessing Pastner inappropriately touching Pendley before a Georgia Tech game against Sam Houston State in Atlanta in 2016 at a game that he did not attend, according to ESPN.
Bell served time on felony drug charges
Pastner and Bell know each other from Pastner’s time as a player at Arizona. Bell is a recovering drug addict who served prison time from 2009-13 on felony drug charges.
He told the Memphis Commercial-Appeal in 2016 that he credited Pastner with helping him get clean.
The two had a falling out when Bell accused Pastner of not properly compensating him for helping his basketball programs and failing to call him on his birthday.
Bell then provided CBS Sports with documents showing he provided $1,275 in impermissible benefits that included shoes, clothes and plane tickets for Georgia Tech players Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson.
The school self-reported the violations and Okogie and Jackson were suspended and ordered to repay the benefits.
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