Sneads, FLORIDA

May 12, 2007 - Tommy Stoutamire, a Sneads High School teacher, who was being investigated in a case involving students has been charged with sexual battery and child abuse in the case.

Stoutamire is charged with one count of sexual battery on a child under the age of 16, four counts of child abuse, and three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation on a child under 16.

Stoutamire submitted his resignation to the Jackson County School Board shortly after the investigation began in May 1. Superintendent Danny Sims says the allegations came from four female students after one reported the inappropriate behavior.

Nov 14 - Stoutamire was mentioned in a news story about the online teacher disciplinary records database in Florida. He is scheduled for a pretrial hearing this month on multiple counts that include lewd and lascivious molestation and child abuse.
Full Name: Thomas Bowen Stoutamire

GUILTY PLEA & SENTENCING July 22, 2008 - Stoutamire pleaded guilty Tuesday to to four counts of child abuse, two counts of false imprisonment, one count of battery, and three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation. Stoutamire was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in jail - not prison. He will be on probation for an additional 14 years. Under the terms of the plea agreement, he will be required to give up his teaching certificate/license, and never seek employment in the field again.

APOLOGY (kinda) As part of the deal, Stoutamire also wrote a letter of apology to his victims.

“I want to express my sincere apologies to CM, KB, MY and LH,” his letter reads. “Each of these young ladies have suffered this past year in school and in the community and have done nothing to deserve the treatment.

I accept responsibility for my actions and for the hurt the actions have caused not only to these four ladies but the Sneads community as well. I urge all involved to allow these girls to attend school in peace and understand they have done nothing wrong.

It is with great regret I move forward with my life today. I understand and accept the punishment of the Court and I will work to earn the trust of my family, friends, loved ones yet again.”

TT - You could have respected him if he had written that letter, say, a year ago and allowed the girls and their families to get on with their lives.

The mother wrote a letter to the court. [Emphasis ours.]

“It is so hard for me to stand here and be calm after what you did to my daughter,” she said. “There are no words to express what we have suffered this past year because of your actions. You know, this letter of apology you are giving my daughter today could have been written a year ago and even though it would not have taken away what you did, maybe it would have stopped some of the harassment she has had to endure this past school year from not only classmates, but from teachers as well.

All because she stood up and told the truth. But when I become overwhelmed by the anger and hurt, I remember that my Lord will always have the last word, he is the Beginning and the End. Even though I do not have the resources to get myself out of this problem, I know He will deliver me. I pray that you can make peace with God for your actions.”

A single poster at the story understood.

These four girls have been mistreated, shunned and talked about for over a year since this incident happened. What most people don’t understand is that these young ladies should be considered hero’s to this county. In our current society it is so easy to tell a lie and not face the truth, these four stood up for what is right.

As people look at this situation and try to understand what has happened and make sense of this. you should thank these 4 hero’s for there courage to make a stand. If you have a daughter in our school system and you think about what would have happened if these four had not of done this and what the headlines could have read this year or next year you should pray for these girls and thank them for being honest people.

Court documents related to the case. (8.58MB)