Ohio ex-coach set to plead guilty over nude videos

CANTON, Ohio (AP) -- Prosecutors have been told to expect a guilty plea from a former high school basketball coach charged with videotaping nude boys in the locker room over an eight-year period, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

More than 70 boys have been identified on the tapes made since 2005 at Jackson High School near Canton.

The attorney for Scott Studer, 46, signaled the plans to plead guilty to eight counts of illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, Assistant Stark County prosecutor Chryssa Hartnett said.

She declined to comment pending Wednesday's court hearing.

Studer's attorney, James Haupt, couldn't be reached for comment. A message was left at his office Tuesday. A call to Studer's home went unanswered.

The pending guilty plea, first reported by The Repository in Canton, involves all eight counts of the indictment returned against him, Hartnett said.

The prosecution hasn't offered leniency or any other consideration in return for a guilty plea, she said. Studer, who has been locked up on $2 million bond, could face 64 years in prison and the sentence will be up to the judge, Hartnett said.

Studer coached at Jackson High and was arrested after investigators searched his home and found nude images on a DVD, a computer and a flash drive. He quit as an assistant coach and school building aide the day he was arrested last month.

The search of Studer's home was led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which hasn't commented on the reason.

Police said the videotaping involved student-athletes at the school. There was no evidence of videotaping in the visitor locker room, police said.