Former NBL referee and Basketball SA volunteer Nathan Wieland charged with child grooming and sex offences

A former NBL and WNBL referee and Basketball SA volunteer is in custody after being charged with child grooming and multiple counts of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Basketball SA volunteer and former NBL referee Nathan Wieland has been charged with child grooming and child sex offences. Picture: Facebook.

A former NBL and WNBL referee and Basketball SA volunteer is in custody after being charged with grooming a child for more than seven months and multiple accounts of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Nathan Aaron Wieland, 45, from Ingle Farm, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday where he was remanded in custody pending an ongoing bail application.

Details of his charges released by the courts show he is alleged to have procured a child for sexual activity between August 2, 2022 and March 22, 2023.

Basketball SA volunteer and former NBL referee Nathan Wieland has been charged with child sex offences.

He is also charged with two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under 17, which was alleged to have occurred in December last year.

Mr Wieland was arrested last Tuesday and refused police bail. He will appear in court next week where he will apply to be released on strict home detention conditions.

Mr Wieland was a former officiating manager for Basketball SA and also lists on his social media positions at several high schools where he was running IT services.

He refereed at the NBL and WNBL level and won referee of the year awards in the Central ABL – now known as NBL One.

On Thursday afternoon, Basketball SA chief executive Tim Brenton wrote to parents informing them the volunteer had been stood down.

Mr Brenton said SA Police had advised there was “no information at this time that sexual offending occurred against persons associated with Basketball SA”.

SA Police said a 45-year-old man from Adelaide’s northeastern suburbs had been arrested on Tuesday and charged with procuring a child for sexual activity and unlawful sexual intercourse.

Police alleged the offending occurred in December last year.