04:04 PM PST on Wednesday, November 17, 2004

By ANTONIA GIEDWOYN and NICOLE DOLL, KGW Staff

An infamous former Beaverton softball coach who ran off with a teenage female player a little over a year ago will spend several years in federal prison.

KGW

Andrew Garver at a court appearance.

As part of a plea deal, Andrew Garver, 39, pleaded guilty Wednesday on a federal charge of crossing state lines with the intention of having sex with a minor.

Garver and Michelle "Mimi" Smith disappeared in September 2003 and were discovered last June in Tennessee after a minor traffic accident. She was 15 at the time. They had been living under an assumed name.

Garver faced a single count of interstate travel with the intent to engage in sex with a minor, a crime that carries a possible prison term of up to 30 years.

By pleading guilty, he had his sentence reduced to five years and will most likely serve only three and a half years because he has been in custody since June, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Nyhus.

As part of the plea deal Garver has agreed not to file an appeal, to register as a sex offender and to avoid contact with the 16-year-old Smith until his sentencing in February, Nyhus said.

He showed no emotion when he made his plea in U.S. Federal court in downtown Portland on Wednesday morning. Garver still faces state charges of third-degree rape, sodomy and custodial interference. He is expected to plead guilty to those charges at a later date, authorities said.

kgw.com photo/Beaverton Police

Michelle Smith (right) in a team photo with her former coach, Andrew Garver.

With the plea agreement Garver "is taking full responsibility for what happened so that the people he cares the most about are not further traumatized," said Garver's attorney, David Peters.

Attorney Gregory Bunnell, who represents Smith and her family, said the family "is optimistic that Mr. Garver has acknowledged personal responsibility for the crimes against their daughter -- it closes one chapter."

Police believe Smith and Garver had been living together for about 9 months in Tennessee before Garver told authorities of his fugitive status after getting into a minor traffic accident last summer.

Investigators said Smith, a Beaverton High School student at the time, willingly left with Garver when she was only 15. However, under Oregon law, she was too young to make such a decision and Garver did not have permission to leave with her.

Smith was living with the Garver family, his wife and her best friend at the time.

KGW file photo

Mimi Smith in a PDX elevator with her mother after returning to Oregon last summer.

Garver told his ex-wife that the pair had rented a Knoxville apartment from an elderly couple. He reportedly worked at a convenience store and Smith worked at a health club.

After returning home to her parents, Smith began attending school again, and is working part-time and receiving counseling, according to her father.

(The Associated Press also contributed to this story.)