News

Actions

Zephyrhills High girls basketball coach arrested for inappropriate sexual contact with student

Claims involve 2 employees and a female student
Posted at 6:14 PM, Apr 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-24 14:48:54-04

UPDATE |  A 39-year-old instructional assistant and head basketball coach of the girls junior varsity team at Zephyrhills High School has been arrested for having sex with a 17-year-old student, authorities said. 

Samuel Walker had sexual contact with the female student on several occasions from February 1 to April 17, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said.

No further details were released about the incident. 

Walker has been placed on paid administrative leave, Pasco County School District spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said in a statement released Saturday.

The next opportunity for the Pasco County School Board  to consider taking further action such as suspend Walker without pay will be at the May 2 school board meeting, Cobbe said. 

The I-Team broke this story Friday at 6 p.m. on ABC Action News.

I-Team investigator Jarrod Holbrook was told a second school employee also is under investigation. 

ORIGINAL STORY | The I-Team has uncovered a criminal investigation involving at least two school employees at Zephyrhills High School.

Pasco County School District officials are being tight lipped, but here is what we know so far:

Sources tell investigator Jarrod Holbrook at least 2 men, a teacher and another school employee, are being investigated after allegations of sexual misconduct with a student recently surfaced.

The school employees are accused of inappropriate relationships with a female student.

Pasco sheriff's deputies have confirmed an active investigation is underway.

At this time, we are not mentioning the names of the employees because currently they have not been charged with a crime.

We reached out to school officials and they said both employees are on paid leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.

__________________________________________________________

Jarrod Holbrook is an Emmy and AP Award-winning Investigative Reporter for the ABC Action News I-Team.

Do you have a story idea? Contact Jarrod on Facebook, Twitter, or via email at jarrod.holbrook@wfts.com.