Teen Football Star Wrongly Convicted As A Pedophile Shares How His Girlfriend 'Never Gave Up On Him' In Emotional New Interview

Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse and sexual assault, and some readers may find the details upsetting or distressing to read.

A teenage high school football star who was wrongly accused and later convicted of assaulting two young boys has since been cleared of the allegations and officially exonerated.

Greg Kelley has now spoken out in a new interview, where he praised his high school sweetheart for never abandoning him and for standing by his side throughout the 1,153 days he spent behind bars.

He and his longtime girlfriend, Gaebri Anderson, eventually married in 2020 after he was released from prison and a fresh investigation into his case was launched.

The couple, who are both now 30 years old, live in a large farmhouse with their young daughter, Summer Rae, who is 17 months old and growing up far away from the chaos that once surrounded their lives.

Their peaceful family life now looks completely different from the nightmare Greg was wrongly pulled into back in 2013, when he was arrested after two young boys came forward with accusations against him.

Greg Kelley's wrongful arrest

At 18 years old, Greg Kelley suddenly found himself locked up in Williamson County Jail in Austin, Texas, after he was falsely accused of committing a horrific crime.

At the time, Kelley had already secured a football scholarship to the University of Texas at San Antonio and seemed to be on track for a promising future in the sport. He moved in with a friend's family because his mother was battling a brain tumor and his father was in recovery after suffering a stroke.

The McCarty family, who took him in, operated an in-home daycare for children, and Greg lived there alongside his fellow football player and friend, Johnathan McCarty.

Gaebri Anderson stood by Greg Kelley while he was wrongly imprisoned instagram/gaebrikelley

But in 2013, everything changed for him when he was charged with super-aggravated sexual assault against two four-year-old boys who attended the daycare.

Greg always insisted he was innocent and immediately called his then-girlfriend after learning what he was being accused of, reaching her while she was at the grocery store.

Gaebri told PEOPLE that she 'blacked out' when she heard the news, saying: "I didn't even comprehend what was happening, and I thought it would clear up so fast."

According to a Showtime documentary series about the case, titled Outcry, the investigation began when one of the four-year-old boys told his mother that Greg had molested him, which set off the chain of events that followed.

A mistaken identity

However, it later came to light that Greg had actually moved out of the home a month before the attack was alleged to have taken place, raising serious questions about whether he had been wrongly identified.

"From the first day, in my heart, I knew he didn't do this," Gaebri told the New York Post. "It was crazy. I had friends since I was a baby who were saying, 'I can't believe you are sticking by him'".

In a lawsuit that Greg filed after his wrongful conviction, he claimed that a police officer, Sergeant Christopher Dailey, falsified the date of his move-out from the home in order to bring charges against him and proceed with the case.

Greg wiped away tears as his fiancée celebrated the news of his exoneration Ricardo B. Brazziell/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images

Two weeks after the first accusation, authorities said that a second four-year-old boy came forward with similar allegations against Greg.

According to the documentary, it later emerged that during the first two interviews with a counselor, this second boy denied that any abuse had happened. It was only in a third interview, this time conducted by a detective, that the boy reported being assaulted.

Kelley's original defense attorney, Patricia Cummings, did not highlight during the trial that Greg and his teammate, Johnathan McCarty, looked strikingly similar and that both young men had lived in the same home where the daycare operated.

A judge later ruled that Cummings had a conflict of interest, as she had previously represented members of the McCarty family, which raised further concerns about how fairly the case had been handled.

Although McCarty was never charged in connection with the molestation allegations in this case, he was later sentenced to four years in prison for other sexual offenses, according to the Daily Mail. He was never charged over these specific accusations, but Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick confirmed that McCarty had, at one point, been considered a suspect.

Enduring love

"I fell in love with him while he was incarcerated. We broke up for seven days, and it didn't feel right," Gaebri says.

While Greg was in prison, he taught himself how to draw, and Gaebi recalled how their relationship grew in a different way during that time, saying: "He would make me elaborate homemade cards and love letters that were eight pages long."

"They were so beautiful. The physical was taken away from us. Imagine not being able to kiss or hug the person you love. We had to fall in love with each other's hearts through these letters."

According to the Showtime documentary, people regularly confused Greg Kelley with teammate Johnathan McCarty (Showtime Documentary) left

Now that he is free, Greg still keeps a box filled with the love letters they exchanged, a reminder of how they stayed connected while separated by prison walls.

Greg was eventually released in 2017 on bond after questions were raised about how the original case had been handled and whether key details had been overlooked or mishandled.

It was not until November 6, 2019, that he finally received official confirmation that he had been exonerated of all charges, and just a few days later, he proposed to Gaebri, turning their years of waiting into a new chapter together.

Compensation

After his exoneration, Greg filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Cedar Park and two police officials he believed had contributed to his wrongful conviction.

He ultimately received a $500,000 USD settlement as part of the civil case, along with an additional $258,000 USD and a monthly payment of around $1,200 USD awarded to him under state law for those who have been wrongfully imprisoned.

Greg used some of that money to buy a three-acre property for his mom as a way of thanking her for standing by him and for selling her home to help pay for his legal fees when he needed it most.

Gaebi says that, despite everything they went through, it was ultimately worth it for where they are now: "In some ways, I am very grateful for everything, because it did make us stronger. I don't know if we would be together if all that didn't happen."

If you've been affected by any of these issues or want to talk to someone in confidence about the safety or welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD / 1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and takes calls from across the United States, Canada, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico.