PROVO, Utah -- The preliminary hearing for the man police are calling the BYU groper began in Provo Thursday.
Nathan Fletcher, 23, faces charges of sexual battery for allegedly groping female students on the BYU campus.
An alleged victim, the lead detective on the case, and the head coach of BYU’s Track and Field team testified Thursday.
Back in March, after several reports from female victims, surveillance footage was recovered by police, and investigators brought the footage to the BYU Track and Field team for their help in identifying the suspect.
Nathan Fletcher had been a runner for BYU for two seasons.
Head coach Ed Eyestone said while the team watched the footage several of his athletes recognized the suspect in the video.
Eyestone said: “They all looked at me independent and said, you know, nodded their heads and said, ‘coach…’ I called Travis, the closest athlete to me, and I said, ‘What do you see? Who is it?’ And he said, ‘looks like Nate Fletcher.’”
The defense thinks the case is weak because the surveillance video is from a distance and poor quality. Not a single victim was able to identify Fletcher in a line up. The preliminary hearing will resume September 25.
