Feb 2, 2007 - Shariff Mills, 32, a basketball coach at a Raleigh county school, was arrested after inappropriate text messages were found on one of the team player's cell phones.
He was charged with attempted use of a minor in sexually explicit acts and sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. A teacher at the girl's school recovered her cell phone after she used it in class.That's when the teacher discovered the messages from Mills to the girl.
Feb 5 - "Mills coaches the girls basketball team at Beckley-Stratton Middle School but is not an educator, Raleigh County Assistant Schools Superintendent David Severt said. Severt said Mills was a citizen coach who had taken courses to be a coach."
Feb 9 - Editorial from The State-Journal entitled, "How Do School Districts Select Coaches?"
Raleigh County school administrators say citizen coaches go through classes, tests, criminal background checks and fingerprinting before they're authorized by the state to be a coach.He's charged with attempted abuse of a minor in sexually-explicit conduct and attempted sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. Authorities said he did not have any sexual contact with the girl. He's expected in court Feb 20 for a hearing.
That authorization is only good for one year and that coach must then go through the process again. If a member of the school's faculty becomes available for the position, they must get the job ahead of a citizen coach. The faculty member would have already gone through the process, to become a teacher.
ARRESTED AGAIN: Feb 28 - Mills was arrested (again). This time, for writing bad checks. The sexual abuse case in Raleigh County goes to the grand jury in May
GUILTY PLEA AND SENTENCING: Sept 14 - Mills pleaded guilty in May to one count of attempting to use a minor in sexually explicit conduct. He was sentenced to one to three years in prison. Mills must also register as a sex offender for the rest of his life once he is released from prison.
