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By Alexandra Bogdanovic
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Waymond James Edwards Jr., who has coached a number of girls’ basketball teams in the area, has pleaded guilty to a felony count of taking indecent liberties in Fauquier County Circuit Court.
According to court records, a Fauquier County Grand Jury indicted him on the charge May 23. He entered the guilty plea the same day.
He is now scheduled to be sentenced in Fauquier County Circuit Court on Sept. 26.
Edwards, 29, of Warrenton, was initially arrested on a charge of “animate object sexual penetration” in April.
Allegations against Edwards first surfaced when a teen-aged girl confided in Kathleen Grove, the headmistress of Wakefield Country Day School in Flint Hill, Va., that he had made sexual advances towards her. Grove reportedly contacted the Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Department with the information.
According to Maj. Paul Mercer of the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office, the investigation in Rappahannock revealed that the “animate object sexual penetration” offense allegedly occurred while Edwards was in the company of a 16-yearold female here March 31.
The prosecution would have had ample evidence to prove its case if the matter had gone to trial, according to Commonwealth’s Attorney Jonathan Lynn.
Edwards had reportedly coached JV girls basketball at Fauquier High School, and applied for the head coach position when it became available, but wasn’t hired. He also coached at Highland School in Warrenton for two years, and then went to Wakefield Country Day School as an assistant girls basketball coach this past season.
In January, Wakefield Country Day School officials announced that Edwards would return as head coach of the girls basketball team next season.
“We did background checks on him,” Grove sdid. “And they all came back clean.”
E-mail the reporter: abogdanovic@timespapers.com
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