SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — West Virginia basketball signee Jonathan Holton, who pleaded no contest Wednesday to one count of video voyeurism, was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to undergo mental health counseling.
During his disposition hearing in Superior Court, the former University of Rhode Island standout had a second count of video voyeurism dismissed because that video did not contain images of the victim quite graphic enough to satisfy the criminal statute.
The West Virginia basketball sports information department said coach Bob Huggins would have no comment at this time.
Holton was expelled from Rhode Island last March after allegedly recording separate sexual encounters with two female URI students. Though police said the sex was consensual, the video recording wasn’t, and the females became aware of the videos when they were posted to Facebook.
Along with probation, Holton was prohibited from having contact with the victim. The structure of his mental health counseling will be revisited by the court in July.
A violation of his probation could once again subject Holton to the maximum felony of up to three years jail time.
The “nolo contendere” plea, which is neither an admission of guilt nor a dispute of the criminal charge, prevents the defendant from going to trial.
In days after Holton’s arrest, defense attorney John MacDonald contended: “Jonathan Holton did not post any graphic images on his Facebook account nor did he email or forward these images to others. An unauthorized third party accessed Mr. Holton’s account without his consent and maliciously sent these images under his name. Mr. Holton is truly sorry for the pain and embarrassment that these actions have caused.”
MacDonald did not immediately return a message left at his office after Wednesday’s disposition hearing.
The 6-foot-9 Holton was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team after averaging 10.2 points and 8.1 rebounds in 2011-12.
The Miami native spent last season at Palm Beach (Fla.) State Community College, where he averaged 17.5 points and 14.1 rebounds per game.
In November, Holton committed to Florida International, but he began looking for another program when coach Richard Pitino left FIU for Minnesota.