By Sabrina Edwards
Timothy A. Koets, a former Grand Rapids Community College professor, plead guilty on Tuesday Dec. 8 to involuntary manslaughter in connection with his 16-year-old son’s death.
Along with pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, Koets plead guilty to fourth-degree child abuse.
Koets was arrested on GRCC’s campus in Oct. 2019. His son, Sam Koets, who had the cognitive ability of a 2-year-old, died in March 2019 after drowning in their above ground pool.
On the day of his son’s death, Koets’ daughter texted him an image of Sam in the pool to which he replied, “Make sure the freak is OK.” At the time, Koets was working on campus and his wife, Michelle Koets, was at home sleeping.
“To be portrayed as an uncaring father and somebody that was negligent and wasn’t watching him is so unfair,” Koets said in his January interview with “Inside Edition.”
Koets also pleaded guilty to medical fraud, which he previously pleaded not guilty to in Jan. 2020. Michelle Koets, was sentenced to 21 days in jail for obtaining Sam’s prescription after his death.
Koets is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 18, 2021.
