https://www.sfgate.com/collegesports/article/He-was-convicted-of-molesting-a-6-year-old-12895436.php

He will pitch for the fourth-ranked Beavers (35-7-1, 14-6-1 Pac-12) against No. 2 Stanford (37-6, 17-4) in a three-game series in Corvallis this weekend between the top two teams in the conference.

In a series of interviews with the New York Times last weekend, Heimlich flatly denied committing the crime he had admitted to, saying he pleaded guilty to quickly dispense with the case and for the sake of family relations.

“Nothing ever happened,” he said, when asked for specifics about what might have occurred between him and his niece.

Not just about innocence or guilt, but when, exactly, should one be forgiven for a crime?

And what about the victim? How does her enduring anguish figure into his quest for redemption?

In June, when the Oregonian first reported Heimlich’s guilty plea, it said he originally had faced two charges stemming from incidents between 2009 and 2011. The victim is the daughter of one of Heimlich’s older brothers. She has not been identified by name.

According to court records, the newspaper said, she told investigators she was in Heimlich’s bedroom at his home south of Seattle when he pulled her underwear down and “touched her on both the inside and outside.” The Oregonian quoted the documents as saying, “She told him to stop, but he wouldn’t.”

As part of a plea deal, reached when Heimlich was 16, one of the charges was dropped and he was placed on two years’ probation, took court-ordered classes and had to register for five years as a Level 1 sex offender, a designation the state of Washington uses for someone considered of low risk to the community and unlikely to become a repeat offender.

Heimlich also had to write a letter apologizing to his niece.

Heimlich’s case might not have been made public if not for the fact that, years later, he failed to update his whereabouts for a state registry of sex offenders, which led to a police citation, which, in turn, tipped reporters to his case.

Heimlich’s court records were sealed in August, two months after the first news stories broke. That month, five years after the date of his plea, he said, the records were expunged. He no longer has to register as a sex offender.

This Has Left Me Speachless.