A coach at Lehman High School in Hays County has been charged with possession of child porn after he allegedly asked a former student at a different high school for naked pictures of herself, according to an affidavit obtained by KVUE Wednesday.
Before Jonathan Proud, 29, was taken into custody Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. for one count of possession of child porn, he resigned his coaching and teaching position, according to Tim Savoy, a spokesperson for Hays Consolidated Independent School District.
According to the affidavit for his arrest, Proud's wife called 911 on Feb. 11 to report that she had found inappropriate text messages between Proud and a female she believes is a juvenile. She said she checked his phone while he was sleeping and saw a girl had sent two pictures of herself shirtless and exposing her breast.
The affidavit said that when his wife confronted him about the texts, he told her "that he only text messages the juvenile when he is drunk."
His wife told police that she later called the girl, who said that Proud was her powerlifting coach at Italy High School when she was about 14 or 15. The girl said he began sending her inappropriate messages in 2016 when he was no longer employed at Italy High School. She said this was the first time she had sent him photos and that she sent them because he asked her to send naked pictures.
A copy of the text messages were sent to police, which showed that Proud asked for pictures of her naked body before the pictures were sent. Police also discovered that the phone number the coach was allegedly texting belonged to a juvenile.
The school official said the district was notified late Sunday night by the Kyle Police Department that they were seeking an arrest warrant for Proud. He was immediately placed on administrative leave Monday morning and was not allowed on campus or near any students, the district said.
Proud, who was the powerlifting coach and had been serving as the interim athletic director at Lehman High School, is currently in the Hays County Jail, Savoy said. Proud has been a coach at the school since August 2016.
Hays CISD has notified the Texas State Board of Educator Certification's Office of Investigations regarding the matter.
Parents at the school said they were shocked.
Kimberly Fitzgerald is a mother of three freshman girls at the school. She said one of her daughters is an athlete and was coached by Proud.
"We're just not safe anywhere. It hurts. But it makes me nervous, very nervous," she said. "It leaves you speechless, basically."