http://people.com/crime/former-florida-high-school-football-coach-and-youth-pastor-charged-with-40-counts-of-child-sex-abuse-may-have-more-victims-police-chief-says/
Crime
Former Florida High School Football Coach and Youth Pastor Charged with 40 Counts of Child Sex Abuse May Have More Victims, Sheriff Says
By Christine Pelisek•@chrispelisek
Posted on April 4, 2017 at 12:09am EST
A Florida high school assistant football coach and youth pastor, who has been charged with more than 40 counts of child sex abuse, may have abused more victims, authorities say.
“We have identified an additional eight victims,” Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan tells PEOPLE.
The new victim tally came about after the sheriff’s office held a press conference last week to announce the arrest of 54-year-old Charlie Mabern Hamrick, who is accused of molesting young boys as far back as 1997.
“Anytime he had contact or was in a position that could almost be looked at as a target rich environment for someone of that proclivity, we wanted to make sure our community knew,” says Morgan.
The abuse allegedly occurred while Hamrick worked as a karate instructor, an assistant football coach at Tate High School in Pensacola, and as a Sunday school teacher and youth pastor at two local churches.
“Those are perfect venues if you are of that mindset,” says Morgan. “It is a steady stream of victims. They don’t wear certain clothes and they don’t look a certain way. Pedophiles come in all shapes and sizes.”
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Morgan says he is doubtful more charges will be filed because the statute of limitations has expired on the eight cases.
“We are interviewing those victims and taking their reports and sworn testimony and providing that to the state attorney even though they won’t be filed on to the best of my knowledge,” Morgan says.
One of the alleged victims is a member of the armed services. “He made a call and he is currently on active duty and he passed along to us his contact and what it amounted to,” Morgan says.
Morgan says investigators are also looking into allegations that Hamrick gave unlicensed physical exams to Tate High School football players.
“We have a couple of folks who came forward,” Morgan says. Hamrick, he says, “claimed to be authorized to conduct physicals.”
Escambia County School District Superintendent Malcolm Thomas says Hamrick worked as a volunteer assistant football coach at Tate High School from 2012 to September 2015.
“I guess he had some connection in the community and he wanted to help with the football team,” Thomas tells PEOPLE. “We will hire dozens of people who will help with football teams. Football teams have 100 young boys out there and you need a lot of help to supervise and work with the kids. I believe he was working with either the ninth grade or the junior varsity football team. He was just one of the dozen or so volunteers that were helping the team. You think they are good people and they are doing the right thing.”
Thomas said Hamrick had already resigned his job as an assistant coach when the allegations surfaced. “He started the 2015 year, but left the coaching position as a volunteer in early September,” he says. “He resigned and at that point, we had heard rumors about some financial problems that he might have had and he would eventually be arrested for fraud. So we decided it was time for us to cut our losses. At that point, we had no allegation of any student misconduct.”
Thomas says Hamrick underwent a background check before he taught at the high school. “He went through a background check,” he says. “He was fingerprinted. He passed all of that, but fingerprint and background checks only capture if you have been arrested or caught doing something wrong before. In the case of a person who has deep dark secrets, a background check is not going to find that.”
Police began investigating Hamrick last fall after three victims came forward claiming he allegedly exposed himself and inappropriately touched them while they were riding four-wheelers on his property and fishing in his pond, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
Another victim told police that Hamrick abused him several times when he was between the ages of 8 and 11. The abuse allegedly occurred at Hamrick’s home when his family was there, but they were unaware of the abuse, the paper reports.
Hamrick was charged in March with 40 counts of child abuse including sexual assault on a victim younger than 12, providing obscene material to minors, lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim younger than 12, and lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim age 12 to 16.
“Unfortunately in today’s world, these headlines are happening more and people get off track and do things that are just totally unacceptable and when they do you have to deal with it and there are certain consequences and if these allegations are true he will suffer those consequences as well,” says Thomas.
Hamrick, who is being held on $525,000 bail in Escambia County Jail, is scheduled to be arraigned on April 20. It is unclear if he has retained an attorney.
Crime
Former Florida High School Football Coach and Youth Pastor Charged with 40 Counts of Child Sex Abuse May Have More Victims, Sheriff Says
By Christine Pelisek•@chrispelisek
Posted on April 4, 2017 at 12:09am EST
A Florida high school assistant football coach and youth pastor, who has been charged with more than 40 counts of child sex abuse, may have abused more victims, authorities say.
“We have identified an additional eight victims,” Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan tells PEOPLE.
The new victim tally came about after the sheriff’s office held a press conference last week to announce the arrest of 54-year-old Charlie Mabern Hamrick, who is accused of molesting young boys as far back as 1997.
“Anytime he had contact or was in a position that could almost be looked at as a target rich environment for someone of that proclivity, we wanted to make sure our community knew,” says Morgan.
The abuse allegedly occurred while Hamrick worked as a karate instructor, an assistant football coach at Tate High School in Pensacola, and as a Sunday school teacher and youth pastor at two local churches.
“Those are perfect venues if you are of that mindset,” says Morgan. “It is a steady stream of victims. They don’t wear certain clothes and they don’t look a certain way. Pedophiles come in all shapes and sizes.”
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
Morgan says he is doubtful more charges will be filed because the statute of limitations has expired on the eight cases.
“We are interviewing those victims and taking their reports and sworn testimony and providing that to the state attorney even though they won’t be filed on to the best of my knowledge,” Morgan says.
One of the alleged victims is a member of the armed services. “He made a call and he is currently on active duty and he passed along to us his contact and what it amounted to,” Morgan says.
Morgan says investigators are also looking into allegations that Hamrick gave unlicensed physical exams to Tate High School football players.
“We have a couple of folks who came forward,” Morgan says. Hamrick, he says, “claimed to be authorized to conduct physicals.”
Escambia County School District Superintendent Malcolm Thomas says Hamrick worked as a volunteer assistant football coach at Tate High School from 2012 to September 2015.
“I guess he had some connection in the community and he wanted to help with the football team,” Thomas tells PEOPLE. “We will hire dozens of people who will help with football teams. Football teams have 100 young boys out there and you need a lot of help to supervise and work with the kids. I believe he was working with either the ninth grade or the junior varsity football team. He was just one of the dozen or so volunteers that were helping the team. You think they are good people and they are doing the right thing.”
Thomas said Hamrick had already resigned his job as an assistant coach when the allegations surfaced. “He started the 2015 year, but left the coaching position as a volunteer in early September,” he says. “He resigned and at that point, we had heard rumors about some financial problems that he might have had and he would eventually be arrested for fraud. So we decided it was time for us to cut our losses. At that point, we had no allegation of any student misconduct.”
Thomas says Hamrick underwent a background check before he taught at the high school. “He went through a background check,” he says. “He was fingerprinted. He passed all of that, but fingerprint and background checks only capture if you have been arrested or caught doing something wrong before. In the case of a person who has deep dark secrets, a background check is not going to find that.”
Police began investigating Hamrick last fall after three victims came forward claiming he allegedly exposed himself and inappropriately touched them while they were riding four-wheelers on his property and fishing in his pond, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
Another victim told police that Hamrick abused him several times when he was between the ages of 8 and 11. The abuse allegedly occurred at Hamrick’s home when his family was there, but they were unaware of the abuse, the paper reports.
Hamrick was charged in March with 40 counts of child abuse including sexual assault on a victim younger than 12, providing obscene material to minors, lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim younger than 12, and lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim age 12 to 16.
“Unfortunately in today’s world, these headlines are happening more and people get off track and do things that are just totally unacceptable and when they do you have to deal with it and there are certain consequences and if these allegations are true he will suffer those consequences as well,” says Thomas.
Hamrick, who is being held on $525,000 bail in Escambia County Jail, is scheduled to be arraigned on April 20. It is unclear if he has retained an attorney.
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/2017/11/29/hamrick-trial-defense-argues-victim-and-two-others-made-up-story-plot-justice/905552001/
Hamrick found guilty of 6 counts of sex assault, sentenced to 6 consecutive life sentences
Emma Kennedy, [email protected] Published 5:13 p.m. CT Nov. 29, 2017 | Updated 6:36 p.m. CT Nov. 29, 2017
A former Tate High School assistant football coach and church leader was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences Wednesday after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing a young boy for years nearly two decades ago.
An Escambia County jury deliberated for about an hour before finding Charlie Mabern Hamrick, 55, guilty of six counts of capital sexual battery on a victim under the age of 12.
Hamrick was arrested in March and charged with a series of offenses, including sexual assault, molestation and fraud. The charges were based on a range of accusations made by several victims over two decades. Some of those cases are ongoing in court.
The trial that concluded Wednesday was based on allegations made by a now 28-year-old victim who told the jury Hamrick sexually abused him from the ages of 8 to 11.
The man took the stand Tuesday, telling the jury that Hamrick last abused him in 2000, when the boy's mother saw her then-11-year-old son sitting on Hamrick's lap at Pensacola Beach.
More: Trial begins for ex-Tate assistant football coach accused of child sexual assault
The two families were so close that the victim referred to Hamrick as his uncle, the jury heard. The victim's mother also testified Tuesday, crying as she said she never would have thought someone so close to the family could have committed such an act.
She said she and her husband confronted Hamrick about the incident at the beach and ultimately decided not to go to police because they thought it was a one-time act.
The parents did not find out until earlier this year that the abuse went on for years, the mother said on the stand.
Two other alleged victims took the stand Wednesday, although their cases were not prosecuted because the statute of limitations had passed for the crimes they accused Hamrick of perpetrating.
Hamrick's defense attorney, Kim Skievaski, argued the men conspired together in a plot against his client.
More: Former Tate High School football coach arrested on child sex charges
Skievaski said that in his first interview with police, the victim in the current case estimated the abuse happened when he was 13 or 14, but the attorney alleged he changed his story when he learned abuse at that age doesn't fit under the capital felony guidelines.
Skievaski also argued the victim lied about the age the abuse took place because the child would not have been physically developed enough to be involved in those acts between the ages of 8 and 11.
He further argued that even as a child, the victim would have had some sense that the sexual acts were wrong.
"(The victim) fit his story so that a viable criminal charge could be brought," Skievaski told the jury in his closing argument.
Prosecutor Erin Ambrose told the jury the three victims didn't benefit in any way from coming forward. She argued if they had conspired together, they would have researched the statute of limitations and aligned their stories better before going to police.
"He didn't know that not every little boy wasn't touched the way he was touched ... . He's put himself through a lot of pain if nothing happened to him," Ambrose said in closing.
Emma Kennedy can be reached at [email protected] or 850-435-8680.
Hamrick found guilty of 6 counts of sex assault, sentenced to 6 consecutive life sentences
Emma Kennedy, [email protected] Published 5:13 p.m. CT Nov. 29, 2017 | Updated 6:36 p.m. CT Nov. 29, 2017
A former Tate High School assistant football coach and church leader was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences Wednesday after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing a young boy for years nearly two decades ago.
An Escambia County jury deliberated for about an hour before finding Charlie Mabern Hamrick, 55, guilty of six counts of capital sexual battery on a victim under the age of 12.
Hamrick was arrested in March and charged with a series of offenses, including sexual assault, molestation and fraud. The charges were based on a range of accusations made by several victims over two decades. Some of those cases are ongoing in court.
The trial that concluded Wednesday was based on allegations made by a now 28-year-old victim who told the jury Hamrick sexually abused him from the ages of 8 to 11.
The man took the stand Tuesday, telling the jury that Hamrick last abused him in 2000, when the boy's mother saw her then-11-year-old son sitting on Hamrick's lap at Pensacola Beach.
More: Trial begins for ex-Tate assistant football coach accused of child sexual assault
The two families were so close that the victim referred to Hamrick as his uncle, the jury heard. The victim's mother also testified Tuesday, crying as she said she never would have thought someone so close to the family could have committed such an act.
She said she and her husband confronted Hamrick about the incident at the beach and ultimately decided not to go to police because they thought it was a one-time act.
The parents did not find out until earlier this year that the abuse went on for years, the mother said on the stand.
Two other alleged victims took the stand Wednesday, although their cases were not prosecuted because the statute of limitations had passed for the crimes they accused Hamrick of perpetrating.
Hamrick's defense attorney, Kim Skievaski, argued the men conspired together in a plot against his client.
More: Former Tate High School football coach arrested on child sex charges
Skievaski said that in his first interview with police, the victim in the current case estimated the abuse happened when he was 13 or 14, but the attorney alleged he changed his story when he learned abuse at that age doesn't fit under the capital felony guidelines.
Skievaski also argued the victim lied about the age the abuse took place because the child would not have been physically developed enough to be involved in those acts between the ages of 8 and 11.
He further argued that even as a child, the victim would have had some sense that the sexual acts were wrong.
"(The victim) fit his story so that a viable criminal charge could be brought," Skievaski told the jury in his closing argument.
Prosecutor Erin Ambrose told the jury the three victims didn't benefit in any way from coming forward. She argued if they had conspired together, they would have researched the statute of limitations and aligned their stories better before going to police.
"He didn't know that not every little boy wasn't touched the way he was touched ... . He's put himself through a lot of pain if nothing happened to him," Ambrose said in closing.
Emma Kennedy can be reached at [email protected] or 850-435-8680.