Texas coach arrested after spending $5K at strip club on HS credit card

A Texas high school soccer coach was arrested after allegedly spending thousands of dollars at a Houston strip club and paying with his school district credit card.

Police arrested J.D. Bales, a former assistant soccer coach at Bridgeport High School, on Dec. 15 on a felony charge of theft of property after he allegedly spent over $5,000 of the school’s money at the Men’s Club of Houston while working for the district, the Wise County Messenger reported.

He was released after posting a $10,000 bond, court records show.

Bales resigned as a middle school special education teacher in September after the district discovered he spent $5,455.81 of the district’s money at a strip club while attending a coaching clinic.

He initially told the school and the bank the charge was fraudulent before investigators discovered evidence indicating otherwise.

“Bales eventually submitted payment for the charge. However, due to the overwhelming evidence in the case (most importantly the case involved taxpayer money), I believed it was prudent to submit the case to the Wise County District Attorney,” Bridgeport Police Chief Steve Stanford wrote in announcing Bales’ arrest.

Once an indictment was handed down, a warrant for Bales’ arrest was issued.

His resignation was accepted during a Sept. 11 school board meeting, with the district saying it had been investigating “allegations of misconduct regarding the use of district funds.”

“[Bales] resigned from both his coaching position and his role as a [special education] teacher at Bridgeport Middle School [Sept. 8],” the district said. “Superintendent Dr. Amy Ellis confirmed that the decision to accept the resignation is in the best interest of Bridgeport ISD and the athletic program.”

Bales was hired in 2018 and led the school’s soccer team as well as working as an assistant football coach.

Earlier this year in May, six of his soccer players were arrested over allegations of hazing other students as young as 14, according to the outlet.

The players who were arrested allegedly stripped other students of their clothing, filmed them and made them repeat demeaning and explicit phrases.