Dallas high school football coach charged with felony for allegedly pressuring 8th grader into sex at school

A disturbing incident may have sidelined a Dallas high school football coach for good after he allegedly pressured an eighth grader into having sex with him in his office, then tried to bribe her into silence with a hall note and $30.

As reported by the Dallas Morning News, Dallas (Texas) Lincoln High freshman football coach James Harper was arrested and charged with felonious second-degree assault for a sexual encounter he had with an eighth grade student at Dallas (Texas) Anderson Middle School, where he serves as a hall monitor during the day. Harper is reportedly being held in Dallas County Jail on $75,000 bond, with a future trial potentially sending him to jail for as long as 20 years.

The entire disturbing incident was outlined in court papers which were uncovered by the Morning News on Friday, with the paper following up that discovery with an interview with the underaged student in question on Friday. She told the newspaper that she hesitated before alerting police about the sexual encounter because she feared the hall monitor and coach, noting that Harper had pursued her for weeks, trying to convince her to break up with her boyfriend in favor of the coach and pressuring her into the alleged sexual encounter which has now landed him behind bars.

The teen also said that she planned to transfer to a new school now that she has alerted police about the incident, which may still not be public knowledge at Anderson. She told law enforcement officials that the sexual encounter occurred in late October.

"He acted like [the in-school sex] wasn't a big deal," the unnamed minor told the Morning News. "[In following weeks] he [followed the teen during school hours and] was looking like he wanted to do it again."

Luckily, the coach won't get that chance as long as he remains in custody. Unfortunately, his departure has left the Lincoln freshman team short a coach at the tail end of a long season.

Of course, that is completely unimportant compared to the welfare of fragile teenager at an impressionable age who claims she was coerced into sex by precisely one of the people who should have been protecting her from such an incident.

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