The mother of a girl who received inappropriate texts from her school’s head football coach says the school’s response to the incident was too late and too little.
Tarrell Lockwood, Prince George County High School football coach, was placed on leave back in January after the texts he sent to a girl were given to administration. The girl and her mother say the texts were uninvited advances and claim that the school’s response was woefully lacking in urgency.
The mother of a girl who received inappropriate texts from her school’s head football coach says the school’s response to the incident was too late and too little.
Tarrell Lockwood, Prince George County High School football coach, was placed on leave back in January after the texts he sent to a girl were given to administration. The girl and her mother say the texts were uninvited advances and claim that the school’s response was woefully lacking in urgency.
“He didn't physically touch her, but he asked. Told her that he wanted her to wear a skirt so he could peek up under her skirt,” the girl’s mother, Candra Jones, told the local Fox affiliate. “He was trying to groom her and get her together before he was actually trying to get into the actual act.”Â
“It was weird because I was like, this couldn't be Lockwood because I looked at him as like a father figure,” the girl said. "Besides the messages, he said he wanted to play with me."
Fox 5 obtained copies of the texts. In one, Lockwood asked the student to wear a specific kind of underwear. In another, he asks her to delete the texts.
Jones says it took two weeks after finding out about the texts for the school to do anything about the matter. Once Prince George’s County Public Schools officials were notified, they placed Lockwood on paid administrative leave. He later resigned on March 22.
"They get no justice. So, if they're not getting any justice why should I speak? So why should I tell something so traumatic for the world to hear and nobody really listens,” said Jones.Â
Prince George County Police said that while the texts were inappropriate, they weren’t against the law, as Lockwood never solicited for sex. If he’d asked for nude pictures, charges would have been filed.
