Disgraced Maryland Rowing Coach Gets 3-Year Prison Sentence for Sexually Abusing Girls on His Team

Mar. 15, 2025

Walt Whitman High School.Photo: Google Maps

A former Maryland high school teacher and rowing coach was sentenced on Friday after admitting to sexually abusing an underage girl he coached and having several nude photos of another girl on his team, PEOPLE confirms.

On Friday, Kirkland Shipley, a 48-year-old former teacher at Walt Whitman High School In Bethesda, where he also coached the girls' rowing team, was sentenced to three years in prison.

In addition, Shipley must also register for the rest of his life as a sex offender.

One of the victims in this case was on the girls' crew team at Walt Whitman High School between 2014 and 2018.

Shipley was her head coach from her sophomore year to her senior year, as well as her history and geography teacher, PEOPLE confirms.

The other victim was on the girls' crew team at Walt Whitman from 2009 to 2013. She was also one of Shipley’s students when she was a junior.

“A month after her graduation, in July 2013, when the victim was 17 years old, Shipley invited her to his residence in Washington, D.C., and had sex with her,“the Department of Justice said in a statement from late June. “He continued having sex with this victim throughout the summer and after she began college in the fall of 2013.”

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Investigators learned “Shipley possessed sexually explicit photos and videos of the victim, while she was a 17-year-old minor. He also sent this victim photos and videos of his penis and of himself masturbating,” the DOJ statement says.

The Washington Post, citing the criminal complaint against Shipley, detailed a disturbing pattern of grooming in which Shipley invited the victims to spend time with him in his classroom and flattered them.

According to the complaint, the girls confided information about their personal lives to Shipley. Subsequently, the communication increased via text or Google chat, on which nude photos and sexual videos would be sent. The complaint states that Shipley gave each victim a vibrator, claiming it was a graduation present, thePostreports.

According to thePost, Shipley was investigated twice for his behavior, but kept his job until he was arrested on Aug. 24, 2021.

Shipley’s attorney could not be reached Friday for comment.

source: people.com