A Mississippi high school football coach was arrested for sexual battery after school officials discovered he allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Kemper County High School football coach Ray Westerfield was arrested last week. A teacher at the same school was arrested last year for inappropriate behavior with a student as well.
After authorities discovered the alleged inappropriate relationship between Westerfield and the student, the coach voluntarily spoke with authorities, Kemper County Sheriff James Moore told WTOK. “We asked Mr. Westerfield to come down. He voluntarily came down and we interviewed him,” Moore said. “After that interview, we were able to search the phone of the minor with the permission of the father.”
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The evidence discovered on the minor’s phone matched the story the student gave authorities. “He cooperated with our investigation to the fullest, as the best we know,” Moore said of Westerfield. “With that, we were able to continue the investigation and make an arrest.”
Westerfield was charged with one count of sexual battery, and his bond was set at $25,000, reports WTOK. He has since been bonded out and the case will be presented to a grand jury next year. Westerfield is a 2006 graduate of Kemper High School and was hired as the Kemper County Wildcats head coach last year. “He was very remorseful for his actions and he was very sorry. He was,” Moore told WTOK of the coach.
In October 2020, a former Kemper High School teacher, Simeon Weatherby, was indicted by a county grand jury on charges of sexual battery and touching a child for lustful purposes, WTOK reported at the time. Weatherby allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with a student at the high school. He was still employed when the investigation began in October 2019 and was arrested in June 2020, Moore said.
