July 13, 2023 
Olympic show jumper Rich Fellers pled guilty this week to traveling interstate to engage in illicit conduct with a minor, according to a recent report by Portland, Oregon’s KOIN 6 News.
The plea comes two years after Fellers was initially arrested by authorities in June of 2021. At the time, he was charged with sexually abusing his student, rider Maggie Kehring, at her family’s Portland apartment when she was (then) 17. Following Kehring’s initial report, Fellers had been placed on the SafeSport sanction list in February that same year.
At the time of his arraignment, and for the two years since, Fellers continued to plead not guilty to all four felony charges of Second-Degree Sexual Abuse. In May, a federal count of “interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor” was added to his list of charges. Fellers’ case also experienced a host of delays prior to his appearance in federal court in Portland on Tuesday, July 11.
Fellers guilty plea is a result of a plea deal arranged by state and federal attorneys that would allow him to serve out his sentences—four years for the federal charge, 30 months for his Washington County charges—concurrently. Fellers would also serve his time in a medium-security prison, as opposed to the Oregon State penitentiary. His sentencing is currently scheduled for October.
Fellers’ wife, Shelley Fellers, was also placed on the SafeSport sanction list in February of 2021. She is currently suspended from U.S. Equestrian for abuse of process, retaliation, and failure to report. The couple’s son, Christopher Fellers, was added to the SafeSport Centralized Disciplinary Database last August for various charges, including an intimate relationship involving a power imbalance, failure to report, and physical misconduct. He is currently suspended.
Survivor Maggie Kehring has said she preferred not to comment on Fellers’ recent guilty plea. Through her legal team, at the time of Fellers’ arrest back in 2021, Kehring made the following statement:
“Though there are things that happened to me that I can never get back, I am relieved and grateful to see that my truth, The Truth, was heard, understood and believed. The power in me has been restored by respecting others and ensuring that no one else will be scarred by this same experience.”
