A Montgomery County teacher and athletic coach has been accused of having sex with a 16-year-old student on one of his teams. Montgomery County police said 47-year-old Scott D. Spear was arrested Thursday after investigators received information last week that he had sex with a student at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. Police said the girl was on Spear’s track team at the school, but the school district says Spear coached boys basketball and the co-ed cross-country team.
Investigators determined that Spear — who is also a social studies teacher at Julius West Middle School in Rockville — had sex with a girl he coached in April or May 2011, police said. Spear and the girl contacted each other on their cell phones during school hours, after school and on weekends, and Spear asked if she wanted to meet, police said.
Spear took the girl to a Rockville residence where they had sex, according to police. The two met again and had sex the following night, police said.
Authorities don’t have any evidence that Spear engaged in sexual conduct with other students or had any other inappropriate contact with that student.
“That’s all we’re aware of at this time,” said Officer Janelle Smith, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman.
Police said Spear had been the student’s coach since 2009, and also taught her when she was in the eighth grade. He is charged with two counts of committing a fourth-degree sex offense.
Spear has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, said Dana Tofig, spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools. He will not be in the classroom or coaching until that is resolved, Tofig said.
It could not be determined Thursday whether Spear had a lawyer. A woman who answered the phone at his Rockville home said Spear wasn’t available and declined to comment.
Spear had worked in Montgomery schools since 1993, Tofig said. Tofig said the school system was informing Julius West parents and parents of athletes on Spear’s teams of the arrest by phone Thursday evening. Letters to the families would be sent home on Friday, he said.
