A high school football coach in Bartow has been arrested on multiple charges after accusations surfaced regarding his conduct with female students; the Polk County Sheriff's Office reports that Tyler Eden, 31, the head coach at Bartow High School, engaged in inappropriate behavior, including voyeurism and lewd conversations, as detailed by WFLA.
The investigation into Eden began on April 2, after a parent reported unsettling dialogues between Eden and their daughter; during subsequent interviews conducted by the deputies, multiple female students recounted encounters where Eden made explicit remarks, offered no assurances of privacy, even praised a student’s undergarments and involving one incident where he followed a student to a locker room and stood behind her as she changed as per the information obtained from FOX 13.
Eden's alleged offenses include unzipping a student's broken jacket, which served as her top, and offering a t-shirt to cover up, while later admitting to pursuit, despite initially claiming his intents were to help, following administrative leave announcement; these accounts were documented by the Polk County Sheriff's Office which has addressed the gravity and inappropriateness of the behavior, with Sheriff Grady Judd stating that teachers and coaches "preying on our children" will not be tolerated, as cited in interviews with WTSP.
"It’s unconscionable that an educator and coach would engage in this kind of behavior with students," Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Fred Heid said, reinforcing the Sheriff's stance and commending the Sheriff's Office for their actions to protect students with Eden now booked on charges that include lewd offense against a student by an authority figure, Eden's behavior reveals a disturbing breach of trust and propriety within the educational framework which has led to grave consequences and charges to ensure such actions face justice and such behavior is soundly admonished to prevent future occurrences, as reported by FOX 13.
