Russell County High School coach arrested after alleged relationship with student
A coach and a receptionist from Russell County High School in Alabama have been arrested after an alleged relationship the coach had with a student, the Russell County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday.
Charles Davis, 45, was a coach for Russell County High School and was arrested after allegedly being sexually involved with a senior student, according to Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor.
Taylor said, after a months-long investigation, Davis was arrested and charged with the following:
- Tampering with physical evidence (Class A misdemeanor with a $3,000 bond)
- Sexual contact with a student (Class C felony with a $10,000 bond)
- Employee soliciting obscene material (Class A misdemeanor with a $3,000 bond)
- Soliciting child sexual abuse material (Class B felony with a $10,000 bond)
- Intimidating a witness (Class C felony with a $10,000 bond)
Taylor said the arrest came after investigators watched over a year of video from the school system and a child advocacy center interview with the victim.
Davis was placed on leave from the school, Taylor said. An official at RCHS said they couldn’t disclose what Davis coached, but the school website says he coached the girls’ flag football team.
The receptionist, 25-year-old Courtnie Jones, was also arrested for her alleged involvement in the case.
“He (Davis) was getting her (Jones) to talk to the student, get the student to the office, giving the student a cell phone to contact Mr. Davis with,” Taylor said.
Taylor said Jones is charged with intimidating a witness (Class D felony with a $10,000 bond) and hindering prosecution (Class C felony with a $10,000 bond).
Taylor said he believes the sheriff’s office will be able to prove there was sexual contact between Davis and the student on school property. Taylor said he wouldn’t be releasing any information about the victim in this case.
Taylor said the sheriff’s office received a report of the allegation on Feb. 21.
“It was other students that came and said that they thought something was going on and that gave us the ability to start looking into it,” Taylor said.
Taylor said he believes Davis had been “grooming the student” for months before investigators found out about it.
Taylor said Davis will be extradited Tuesday from Fulton County, where he was arrested at his residence in Atlanta, to Russell County.
Taylor said Jones was out on bond as of Tuesday.
The case was still ongoing, according to Taylor.
“We still have a lot of work to do, obviously, but I believe that we will be able to prove each and every one of our charges that we’ve made against both individuals,” Taylor said.
