A former Alabama girls’ high school basketball coach, who was once pegged as a great role model for young people, is charged with deviant sexual intercourse with a student, among other crimes.
Paige Adams, 35, was arrested Tuesday after a grand jury indicted her on more than 30 sex crimes. The indictment came less than a month after she resigned from Cold Springs High School following a complaint received by the school officials.
The charges include distributing obscene material to a student, one count of a school employee having sexual contact with a student under the age of 19, and one count of a school employee engaging in a sex act or deviant sexual intercourse with a student, CBS42 reported.
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“This 32-count grand jury indictment speaks for itself,” Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker told the news outlet.
It was not immediately clear how old the student was at the time of Adams’ alleged misconduct.
Adams led the school’s girls’ basketball team for one season. Her husband, Drew—who filed for divorce following her resignation—coaches the boys’ team. During her lone season as coach, Adams led the team to a 23–11 record, winning the area championship and appearing in the AHSAA Final Four.
She was once lauded by Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette as “a great role model for the young people of Cullman County,” 1819 News reported.
“This is the first formal complaint I have received regarding this employee,” Barnette said in a statement posted to social media. “As soon as the concern was brought forward, an investigation was immediately initiated. The employee chose to resign at that time.”
In 2017, Adams left Holly Pond High School, another school in the same district, after just one season, 1819 News reported. The reason for her departure was not specified.
“It was definitely hard,” she said. “I prayed about it a lot, and I felt like God was leading me in a different direction that I plan on pursuing. You have to do what’s best for you and your family sometimes,” Adams said following that resignation.
Adams and her husband have been married for 15 years.
Adams was released from jail after posting a $225,000 bond but is forced to wear an electronic monitoring device, local media reported.
