HOUSTON, TX (Covering Katy News) - Former Paetow head football coach and campus athletic coordinator Lonnie Teagle has pleaded guilty to an improper relationship with a student and will serve 120 days in jail and eight years of community supervision.
Five Paetow girls made claims of improper contact by Teagle. In the plea, he admitted to engaging in sexual contact with one 15-year-old female and waived his right of trial by jury. Court documents say his improper contact happened on the Paetow campus.
Court documents obtained by Covering Katy News also reveal similar complaints against Teagle at the Denton school district, where students claimed he commented on their breasts and asked for back rubs. Those acts allegedly happened in October 2021. Katy ISD hired Teagle in April 2022. Denton did not reveal his past.
Court documents say it took a Grand Jury subpoena to force Denton ISD to reveal the students' complaints to investigators.
After he left Denton, he came to Paetow High School, where his illegal behavior continued. Students say he touched them inappropriately on their front and rear private areas. The girls say Teagle's actions started in September of 2022. Teagle resigned on October 11, 2022 after administrators investigated the allegations.
"The defendant [Teagle] asked if they had belly button rings and if they liked to have sexual intercourse," a court document says.
The document also says he'd ask about the girl's dating life.
The district hoped he would lead Paetow High to a second state football championship. Instead, a court document says complaints about his behavior started in September of 2022 from three 15-year-old girls and two 16-year-old girls.
The legal document also says Teagle frequently visited adjacent Stockdick Junior High School. Prosecutors say his visits were unrelated to his high school coach and athletic coordinator role and made the adult staffers concerned.
"Three staff members from [the] junior high came forward and said that Coach Teagle made them feel uncomfortable on multiple occasions due to his inappropriate comments, touching, and mannerisms," the legal document says.
"His behavior at the Junior high was described as not appropriate for the workplace," the court document revealed.
As part of the plea, following Teagle's short jail sentence, he is not to have contact with children under 17 years old. His teaching license was also revoked.