Ocala Police arrested James Edward Ford III, 43, an assistant football coach for West Port High School on charges of unlawful sexual activity with a student in Ocala, according to the Ocala Police Department.
Ford was arrested on Friday after a School Resource Officer was informed of a possible inappropriate relationship between a now-17-year-old student and Ford that opened the investigation, Ocala PD said.
An Ocala Police Detective interviewed the student, who disclosed that she and Ford started communicating through text messages and over the phone in January 2024 after he asked her to be his Valentine, according to the arrest affidavit. The pair began meeting outside of school in August 2024 at first with other people at restaurants and then just the student and Ford, records said.
The student said they kissed, including once in a school locker room, and had a sexual encounter in Ford’s vehicle parked at a Waffle House in September 2024. The student was 16 years old at the time of the encounter, Ocala PD said.
The student told investigators Ford had given her money to delete text messages between the two but she never did, according to the arrest affidavit.
The School Resource Officer told detectives the school asked Ford not to return, the records said.
Ford had been a paid assistant football coach since 2022 but he told investigators he had been working with the team for roughly five years, records said.
Ford was arrested on felony charges including unlawful sexual activity with certain minors, offenses against students by authority figures, travel to meet a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity and use of two-way communication device to facilitate a felony, Ocala PD said.
“This sort of behavior is unacceptable, especially for a person in an authority position over children,” Ocala PD said in a statement. “We ask if anyone else has experienced similar behavior to please let law enforcement know.”
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