Ex-Wrestling Coach Gets Jail Time for Heroin Possession

Brad Washburn, a former Bangor Area assistant wrestling coach and teacher's aide, was sentenced Monday to up to two years in Lehigh County Prison, minus one day, on heroin possession, according to a Morning Call report.  

The sentencing comes three months after  asleep in his car in the 5000 block of Tilghman Street with heroin on his lap.

Washburn pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance on July 27, according to online court records. An additional charge of possession of drug paraphernalia was dropped in the negotiated plea.

Lehigh County Judge Robert Steinberg imposed Monday's jail sentence -- one year minus one day to two years minus one day -- along with a $500 fine, the report said.

According to a lehighvalleylive.com report, Steinberg told Washburn, "Maybe the way you were found, maybe that's how your life is going to end: on the side of the road, in a ditch somewhere. My concern is that you don't hurt anyone else."

At the time of the arrest, Washburn, 31, of Bethlehem was on probation for supplying drugs and alcohol to teenagers at Bangor Area High School. A biology teacher at the school, Gina Riso, had died of a heroin overdose in 2009 at his Bethlehem apartment, and a 19-year-old who testified to using drugs with him had later committed suicide.

The families were in court on Monday, the report said. A Lehigh County prosecutor called Washburn "a one-man wrecking ball," according to the lehighvalleylive.com report.

Washburn told the court he could not explain why he has not been able to overcome his addiction, according to The Morning Call report.