Former Mercer teacher, coach imprisoned, declared sex offender

A former Mercer County teacher and coach has been sentenced after being convicted of sexually assaulting a student in another state.
The Montana Tenth Judicial District Court Judge filed an order sentencing 45-year-old Richard Adsit Jr. to thirty years in the state prison. Judge Jon Oldenburg suspended fifteen years of that sentence but also declared that when Adsit completes his sentence, he must register his home address as a Level One Sexual offender.
Following a four-day trial in Judith Basin County, Montana, in March, a jury found Adsit, Jr. guilty of two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
Prosecutors say Adsit fondled and had sex with a female student player under 16 years old when he was working at Geyser High School in Montana before he came to the Mercer Area School District. Adsit was 36 years old at the time.
Adsit was a health and physical education teacher when the Mercer Area School District suspended him.
According to the Mercer Area School district website, Adsit taught fitness, physical education 8, physical education grades 9-12, and health 9, as well as a golf and baseball coach in the Mercer schools.
Records from the Pennsylvania Department of Education show that Adsit was first licensed to teach health and physical education in 1999. The department now lists his teaching permit as suspended.
Adsit had emergency teaching permits to act as a day-to-day substitute teacher in Pennsylvania from 2000 to 2001 and received a library science substitute permit in 2015.
Adsit was arrested in 2018 after the Judith Basin County Sheriff filed charges.
At that time, NBC affiliate KTVH reported that court documents state the following:
"During the time at issue, Defendant repeatedly ignored the Victim's statements and actions indicating a lack of consent. In late March or early April 2012, Defendant explicitly told the Victim she could 'never ever, ever, ever, EVER tell anybody what was going on.' This statement from a teacher and coach to a student and player resulted in the Victim being unable to effectively consent to sexual contact due to the imbalance of power."
According to the sheriff's office, Adsit worked at the following schools in Montana: Reed Point High School, Geyser High School, Savage High School, and Sidney High School.
The state of Montana Office of Public Instruction website shows Adsit was licensed to teach in that state from 2004 to 2014.
As of Saturday, Adsit remained in the Fergus County Jail in Lewiston, Montana awaiting transfer to the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, MT.