Former middle school swim coach charged with rape
Atlanta school officials have fired a part-time swimming instructor charged with raping and drugging a student from the school where he worked.
Charles Clarke, 35, was in Fulton County jail Tuesday night after being arrested for allegedly taking a student from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and assaulting her.
Clarke had been working at the school since September when the pool reopened, Atlanta Public Schools spokesman Keith Bromery said.
He was fired on Jan. 27 when the allegations were made, Bromery said.
According to Fulton County Police, the girl said Clarke took her from the school to the Fulton Inn on Wendell Drive.
The girl told police that at some point she fell asleep and when she woke up, Clarke was on top of her.
Clarke is accused of giving the girl, who is 15, marijuana and alcohol, WSB said.
Police began investigating the incident when the girl reported it to a school counselor and also told her mother.
Clarke’s charges include statutory rape, sexual assault, child molestation, aggravated sodomy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and enticing a child for indecent purposes and battery, according to jail records.
Clarke is scheduled to have his first court appearance on Wednesday.
