A criminal case against a 37-year-old former swim coach went from sensational accusations about a scandalous five-year sexual relationship with a teenage girl to a single admission that he touched her once inappropriately when she was 16.

John Schwerzler admitted to aggravated criminal sexual contact. He will serve no jail time for that charge, but will be listed with the state registry for sex offenders.

By contrast, Schwerzler will serve a four-year prison sentence for admitting that he altered checks written out to a school in order to place them in a special account for the good of his swimmers.

Schwerzler's lawyer said on March 13 when the ex-coach admitted to both of these crimes that his client never benefited from putting the money in a private account. Instead, the money went to help the U.S.A. Swim Club, a private team that Schwerzler coached at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology, they said.

Questions about how a raft of serious sex charges vanished, and why the swim coach will spend four years in prison for diverting what attorneys say was less than $200, open a window into how the plea bargain was reached in Gloucester County.

"The plea agreement was intended to accomplish two aims," Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Bernie Weisenfeld wrote in an e-mail response to questions about the case. "Protection of the victim from the ordeal of testifying publicly, which would have occurred with reluctance, and imposition of prison time for the defendant as well as placing him in the purview of Megan's Law requirements and community supervision for life after incarceration."

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