Moore High School Coach Charged With Molesting Teenage Girl

He's accused of molesting a teenage girl. Now Moore high school's head basketball coach has been officially charged with lewd acts with a child by the Cleveland County District Attorney's office.

The Moore school district would not comment on the charges that were just filed or say if Coach Aaron Howell was still with the school. But they did say they are cooperating with the police investigation. As for the mom, she tells News 9 she is just glad the DA is taking her daughter's accusations seriously.

"She's sad. She's upset. She's hurt. She's angry," said the teen's mom.

News 9 has agreed to protect this mother's identity as a way to protect her child too. But she says 39-year-old Aaron Howell, a family member they both knew and counted on, betrayed them.

"It was a family member that I trusted," she said.

5/5/2014 Related Story: Moore High School Coach Arrested For Child Sex Crimes

According to court papers, Howell is accused of touching that teenage family member inside his home on several different occasions. The teen tells detectives it started four years ago when she was only 12.

"They keep asking ‘Why was this child at this house?'" said the teen's mom. "It's because they were family. I trusted this person 100% with my child, that she would be safe there. Apparently I was wrong."

According to court papers, Howell is accused of slapping the young girl on the buttocks. She says he would press his body against her. He is also accused of grabbing her hand and placing it against his bare penis.

She claims last November he came up behind her and put his hand in her shirt and that she bit his arm and told him to stop. But she says he put his hand in her pants and underwear instead, and only stopped when he heard movement in another room.

The girl's mother is shocked at the allegations, but stands by her daughter and is glad she finally came forward.

 "I do believe her 100%," said the teen's mom. "I don't fell she would come to me and say that this person who we've trusted forever is going to make something up like this."

Howell is currently out of jail on a $25,000 bond.