APOPKA, Fla. — Three baseball coaches and the athletic director at Apopka High School have been demoted following an investigation into a sex scandal at the school.
A team trainer admitted she had consensual sex with a high school ball player, WESH 2 News reported.
The multiple-page Apopka police report reads like a soap opera script. Ultimately, athletic director Sonny Wise, varsity baseball coach Gavin Jones and assistant coaches Brian King and Bobby Brewer will no longer work in the athletic department at Apopka High School.
Wise’s son admitted to police that he had sex with Stephanie Wesley, the team’s 22-year-old trainer, but Wise said he should not have been demoted.
“I’ve done nothing. I’m not responsible for what’s happened, and I want my name cleared,” Wise said.
Wise proclaimed his innocence, but he refused to discuss any sexual relationship between his 19-year-old son, J.T., and Wesley.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Wise said.
Wesley and Wise’s then-18-year-old son admitted to police that they had sex during a team trip to Valdosta, Ga., this spring. But investigators found nothing illegal and closed the case.
Now, J.T.’s father, who has been a coach in Apopka for 28 years, has been fired, along with the three other coaches.
School board officials said the men weren’t fired over a policy violation but because there was an “obvious” need for change in team management.
“We feel it’s important to make a change. Some of it is obviously related to the activities of this past spring with the baseball team and its trip to Georgia,” said Dylan Thomas, of the Orange County School Board.
Orange County Public Schools officials said that three of the four men will remain in their teaching positions with the school district if they choose to. Brewer, who worked as a part-time coach only, will no longer be employed by the school district.
Brewer is well-known for his role as coach of the 2001 Apopka Little League team that went to the World Series.