Charges dropped against North Georgia high school coach

Lamar Cofield

Lamar Cofield

Charges were dropped Monday against a North Georgia high school coach accused of not reporting a rape allegation, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

Lamar Cofield, a 34-year-old teacher and coach at Northwest Whitfield High School, was arrested in October after investigators began looking into allegations of assault at a July 1 house party in the Pleasant Grove area, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

Cofield and the victim were at the party — attended by five high school students — inside a male student’s home when she told him of the sexual assault, the newspaper reported.

Charges of failing to report suspected child abuse were dropped because Cofield found out about the allegations outside of a school context.

A relative of one of the five children at the party, Ashley Turner, 33, was also arrested the same day as Cofield, but she was charged with providing alcohol to persons under the age of 21.

Cofield resigned as a teacher and coach. It was not immediately clear if he was hired back.

Read more of the story here.

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