A former high school soccer coach from North Texas found himself on the wrong side of the law after an arrest for a felony theft charge. JD Bales, once the head of the Bridgeport High School soccer program, stands accused of spending district money at a Houston strip club, racking up charges of over $5,000.
With the scissors of justice ever ready to cut ties with impropriety, Bridgeport Police Chief Steve Stanford said Bales was arrested based on a grand jury warrant. Bales resigned in September after authorities revealed that a Bridgeport ISD credit card had been used to splurge $5,455.18 at an adult entertainment venue. Bales, who’s also a former special education teacher, initially branded the expenses as fraudulent, but an investigation spearheaded by local police unearthed evidence to the contrary, according to Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The arrest follows a scandalous May in which six of his soccer players were nabbed by police over claims of hazing. Newer team members were allegedly subjected to rituals of humiliation and degradation—an episode that raised questions about the culture Bales presided over. These accused hazing practices included forcibly undressing and compelling the young athletes to repeat offensive, self-degrading chants, per The Wise County Messenger.
Despite refunding the ill-spent money back to the school district, the financial institutions involved and the overwhelming evidence mounted against him, drove Stanford to push the case to the district attorney, which led to an indictment. "…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 to submit the case to the Wise County District Attorney," Stanford stated, as per The Wise County Messenger.
Bales, who began his stint at Bridgeport in 2018, not only led the soccer team but also played a part as an assistant football coach. In the wake of these events, Bridgeport ISD has stayed the course, accepting Bales' resignation earlier in September after an internal investigation into the misuse of district funds. In a move to safeguard the integrity of its educational and athletic programs, the district parted ways with Bales, signaling the end of his tenure and the beginning of a larger reckoning with the responsibilities owed to the taxpayers' trust.
