Ex-Bengal guilty of sex with coach's kid

FORMER CINCINNATI linebacker Nate Webster was convicted Wednesday of sex-related charges involving the teenage daughter of a former Bengals assistant coach.

A jury in Cincinnati found Webster, 34, guilty of four counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Jurors found him not guilty of three other charges: gross sexual imposition, sexual battery and a fifth count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. The jury deliberated for about 6 hours before reaching the verdict.

Prosecutors say Webster had sexual contact with the girl in 2009 when she was 15 and threatened to harm her if she told anyone. Webster admits having sex with the girl the next year, when she was 16, the legal age of consent in Ohio, but denies that the sexual relations began earlier than that.

Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Seth Tieger declined to comment on the verdict or other aspects of the case prior to sentencing, scheduled for June 6.

The prosecutor's office said Webster could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. Webster could have faced up to 36 1/2 years in prison if he had been convicted on all counts.

Webster played for Tampa Bay from 2000-03 and for the Bengals in 2004-05. He finished his career with Denver from 2006-08.

Commissioner Roger Goodell says the NFL is still doing interviews regarding player punishments that likely will be handed down for the Saints' pay-for-hits bounty system. He said he doesn't expect to issue a decision this week, but the league is "in the final stages of working on discipline involving the players. We hope to do that very soon and get that behind us."

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