A North Texas high school soccer coach was arrested on a felony charge of theft after allegedly using a school credit card to rack up more than $5,000 at a Houston strip club.
Former Bridgeport ISD coach JD Bales was arrested in Wise County last week and charged with theft of property $2,500 to $30,000 enhanced, a third-degree felony, according to the Wise County Messenger.
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Bales, who was hired in 2018, resigned in September after the school district discovered charges of $5,455.81 at the Men’s Club of Houston while Bales was attending a coaching clinic, the newspaper reported.
“During the investigation, which included information that Bales had formerly claimed the charge was fraudulent (with both the school and the financial institution), investigators discovered evidence indicating a criminal offense occurred,” Bridgeport Police Chief Steve Stanford said in a written statement to the newspaper. “…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.”
Bales’ alleged trip to the strip club wasn’t the only issue he had at the school.
Earlier this year, six student-athletes in the soccer program were arrested on misdemeanor hazing charges, the Wise County Messenger reported.
“The investigation revealed that over the 2022-23 soccer season, several upperclassmen (players) were involved in the hazing initiation of underclassmen, described as ‘de-pantsing,’” Stanford said in a written news release provided to the Messenger. “These incidents involved the underclassmen (some as young as 14 years old) being restrained or held down while multiple subjects removed articles of the victim’s clothing, including their pants and underwear. The victim reported that while in an unclothed state, they were filmed and made to repeat phrases such as ‘I’m your b***h.’”