A suburban Maryland football coach was placed on leave in February after claims of inappropriate texts with a female student came to light. Now, three months later, the mother of that student has come forward to publicly highlight how the coach’s texts were aimed at grooming her daughter for a physical encounter.
As reported by Washington D.C. Fox affiliate WTTG, Candra Jones, the mother of the purported victim of illicit texts from longtime DuVal High School football coach Tarrell Lockwood, has made clear the coach was using the electronic exchanges to solicit physical contact with her daughter.
“He didn’t physically touch her, but he asked. Told her that he wanted her to wear a skirt so he could peak up under her skirt,” Jones told WTTG. “He was trying to groom her and get her together before he was actually trying to get into the actual act.”
For Jones, Lockwood’s punishment — he resigned from his role in late March — fell far short of the damage he did to her daugher and her state of mind. While a review of Lockwood’s texts were enough for Child Protective Services to conclude they represented instances of abuse, Prince George’s County Police ruled they were not illegal because the coach never directly solicited for sex.
Thus, Jones decided it was time to take matters into her own hands, so others would know just how dangerous Lockwood had allegedly been to her daughter.
Or, as Jones put it to WTTG:
“They get no justice. So, if they’re not getting any justice why should I speak? So why should I tell something so traumatic for the world to hear and nobody really listens,” said Jones.
