Ex-Basketball SA umpire Nathan Aaron Wieland jailed in Adelaide for abusing seven teenage boys

He was once a trusted sporting figure, helping young athletes develop their skills. Now this ‘deviant predator’ will spend years behind bars for preying on teenage boys.

A Basketball SA umpire who preyed on teenage boys – performing sexual acts on them in shopping centre, fast food and public park toilets – took advantage of one of his victims as he was still wearing his school uniform.

Nathan Aaron Wieland’s “web of deviancy” was uncovered when the father of one of his 15-year-old victims found the depraved messages on his son’s phone, immediately contacting police.

From there, seven victims in total were identified, with the final boy coming forward to police after he saw the media coverage of Wieland’s initial arrest.

Basketball SA volunteer Nathan Wieland has been jailed for his sexual abuse of children. Picture: Facebook.

Wieland, now 46 of Ingle Farm, pleaded guilty to six counts of procuring a child for sexual activity and eight counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child under 17 years.

In sentencing in the South Australian District Court on Monday, Judge Emily Telfer said that although Wieland met some of the boys thinking they were over 18, he found out their real ages before having sexual intercourse with each of them.

“It is obvious that you were interested in meeting men much younger than yourself, and that included a willingness to meet young people under the age of consent,” she said.

During the hour long sentencing, Judge Telfer listed the crimes Wieland had committed against each teenage boy, and described where they took place.

One victim, she said, was still dressed in his school uniform when Wieland abused him in a public toilet.

“You arranged to meet (the boy) in a public toilet near David Jones in the city. He was waiting for you inside the cubicle, wearing his school uniform,” she said.

“You noted that he must be a year 9 or 10 student, but you didn’t care.”

Another boy was out shopping with his parents when Wieland saw on Snapchat that he was in the CBD, and invited him to a bathroom where he sexually abused him.

The 46-year-old pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse and procuring a child for sex. Picture: Facebook.

The court heard he had also worked as a student support officer at his former high school.

Other places he met the boys, she said, included at a bathroom in a McDonald’s, at their family homes while their parents weren’t present, and inside shopping centres.

She said he had arranged for one boy to sneak out at night after his parents fell asleep before driving him to his house to perform sexual acts.

“A consistent theme with respect to your offending is that you did nothing to practice safe sex, or to avoid the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases,” Judge Telfer said.

She said Wieland had “regularly consulted a doctor” about his own sexual health, and took medication for the prevention of HIV.

“You were mindful of your own sexual health, but in sexually exploiting each of these children, you recklessly exposed them to the risks of transmitted diseases.

“You chose to exploit them in the very formative stages of their psychosexual development and their exploration of what a healthy relationship looks like.”

She sentenced him to 17 years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 13 years, seven months and seven days.

He will be eligible for parole in February 2037.

Wieland did not react as the sentence was read, but his supporters cried after the hearing was adjourned.