More Child Sex Charges File Against Former Tate Coach For Abuses In Locker Room, Church

April 25, 2017

Former Tate High football coach and church youth leader Charlie Maybern Hamrick has been arrested on additional warrants for sex crimes against minors, according to State Attorney Bill Eddins and Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan. The new allegations detail abuses that reportedly occurred at a Cantonment church and in the Tate High School locker room.

These arrest warrants charge three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation and two counts of unlicensed practice of medicine. Each lewd and lascivious count is punishable by a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison while the unlicensed practice of medicine charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in state prison with a one year minimum mandatory sentence.

These new charges involve additional victims who came forward after Hamrick’s initial arrest.

One life felony count of lewd and lascivious molestation was filed over a February 2016 incident at the Harvest Christian Center on Muscogee Road in Cantonment. The male victim, who was 12 or younger, told investigators at The Gulf Coast Kids House that a group of kids were playing hide and go seek outside at the church. The victim was in Hamrick’s lap as the “seeker’ while the other children went to hide. Hamrick placed his hand inside the victim’s pants and underwear and touched him inappropriately, the victim said. The abuse happened only one time and he and his family stopped attending the church a short time later.

Authorities said Hamrick was a leader of he “Royal Rangers” at the church.

Hamrick was charged with unlicensed practice of medicine for allegedly perform a physical exam on a student at Tate High School.  A student told investigators that he had waited too long to do his physical to play football at Tate during August 2014. Hamrick allegedly took the student into his office in the locker room and felt around his midsection but never touched his genital area.  The victim said Hamrick never said anything inappropriate to him and did not wear gloves during the exam.

Hamrick was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior and practicing medicine without a license for an unrelated incident at Tate High School. A Tate student alleged that Hamrick performed a physical exam on his so that he could play tennis. He allegedly told the boy’s mother that he was qualified to conduct the physical because he was a  paramedic. The male student told investigators that Hamrick did the physical in the Tate locker room. Hamrick had him pull his pants down and performed a hernia exam, including contact with private areas. The victim said Hamrick never touch him inappropriately except during the physical exam.

An additional charge of lewd and lascivious behavior was filed against Hamrick for another incident at Tate High School that allegedly occurred during summer of 2011. The victim said he was attending football camp at Tate when Hamrick performed a hernia exam on him as part of a physical. He told investigators that Hamrick touched him for 4-5 minutes and it was unlike any exam he had experienced at a doctor’s office. The victim, who is currently an inmate at the Escambia County Jail, said Hamrick performed 10-15 “follow-up physicals” during the football season.

Hamrick has previously been charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation, one count of giving obscene material to a minor, one count of organized fraud, and six counts of sexual battery on a child under 12 years of age. Each sexual battery charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in state prison.

State Attorney Bill Eddins said his office intends to seek the maximum sentence possible in the case.

Hamrick was paid a supplement as a football coach at Tate High School from August 1, 2012, to September 14, 2015. He was not a teacher and did not have students under his watch in a classroom. Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said previously that Hamrick passed all background checks at the time because he had not been charged with any crime.

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone that may have had a physical from Hamrick or believes they were abused by him to call them at (850) 436-9620.

Comments

15 Responses to “More Child Sex Charges File Against Former Tate Coach For Abuses In Locker Room, Church”

  1. Watcher on April 26th, 2017 8:10 am

    Malcolm Thomas needs to come clean! He says that “nothing was reported to him”. What about the financial allegations? Why did his HR director tell me that “Hamrick mysteriously quit”? One poster stated that he would never get his money back now. That is probably true. But ask MA if he got his (or my) money back. kind of suspicious to me that an employee of Tate most likely profited from Hamrick when so many people suffer. More to come!

  2. Gary on April 26th, 2017 5:02 am

    Hamrick is one sick dude. How this went on for so long is amazing. Lock him up.

  3. Concerned on April 25th, 2017 10:10 pm

    What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty ? Or does that only apply when you are the one being accused of something ? The allegations are serious, but they are just that, allegations. Nothing has been proven in the court of law.
    Some of the comments I have read are borderline threats. God bless each of you whom have judged and thrown stones when living in a glass house.

  4. Dj on April 25th, 2017 9:30 pm

    First off Charlie was the one performing the background checks at the church. Very convenient huh. Second, what most dont understand or realize is that all the victims that have come forward (who dont know each other) all have told the same story of how Charlie “lured” them in. What he said, how he acted. He had a MO that he folllwed and it goes all the way back to the 80s. We too trusted our kids at church and at Tate with this man. We thought he was a man of God. After he asked a few way too personal questions about our children we backed away from him as something didn’t seem right. I hope the SOB rots on hell.

  5. Jake on April 25th, 2017 9:27 pm

    I knew while we went to church there . Charlie did the background checks for the church. Make you go hmmmmm????

  6. Sam on April 25th, 2017 2:50 pm

    I know Harvest does background checks on any and everyone working with children or youth. There was no history of anything wrong as reported by Malcolm Thomas. If something had shown up on his check he would have never been allowed be around children. Maybe if someone had reported him years ago when this first started there wouldn’t have been more victims.

  7. Kim B on April 25th, 2017 1:49 pm

    Harvesters has never been a chartered member of Royal Rangers. They only use the Royal Ranger curriculum. Royal Ranger commanders are NEVER allowed to be alone with children. There’s no need to cast a bad shadow on an organization just because someone uses their printed material.

  8. Disgusted on April 25th, 2017 10:55 am

    My husband & I were members/attended the same church as him, Sara, his wife & children. We have been to their house for a church get together (pot luck style). I can honestly say I really never talked to him much more than a “Hi, how are you?” all of those years. He was always busy “doing” / working behind the scenes per say. Truly amazes me he had time to do anything w/ children at the church due to being a deacon, door greeter, playing musical instrument, in choir, helped out with the lighting/sound booth, cut the church’s grass, did majority of maintance & other odds & ends too.
    He, his wife & children were VERY GOOD friends with Pastor Farley, Heather, his wife & children.
    Sara is one of the nicest most sincere & caring person I have ever met in my lifetime! Just truly genuine & ALWAYS doing for others! I honestly do not think she had ANY idea about his DISGUSTING behaviors!!! I could definitely see her leaving him ASAP if she even suspected such a thing!
    However my husband says something always bothered him about Charlie, he couldn’t put his finger on it but he just thought he was strange! (Again I never had any interaction with him to judge him one way or another) except thought he was a hard worker (so it appeared)!
    Needless to say we were both shocked, mad & BEYOND DISGUSTED when we heard this on the news!
    I continue to pray for ALL of his victims (even the ones that have not come forward as I’m sure there are some), their families, Sara, his children & his family! I also pray for all of the people he cheated out of money.
    Their house is over the top GORGEOUS! Definitely more beautiful than the Parade of Homes houses & this is saying A LOT! With all the money he cheated people out of I am sure it’s paid for!
    I wish they could list each charge with details & omit the names. (Fraud cases only) I couldn’t stomach reading the other DISGUSTING details!
    I pray something good comes from this, such as new laws in our schools to prevent this from happening in the future! And I pray ALL CHURCHES wake up & become more aware of who they are allowing to lead in their church!
    We ALL NEED to pray for God’s discernment on EVERYTHING in our lives!
    *apologize for rambling :-/

  9. anne 1of2 on April 25th, 2017 10:09 am

    I hate the thought of ruining a innocent childhood, but these days we have to consider it a part of raising a child and tell them from an early age if anyone ever touches you “here” come to me, this is a bad person.. It is not to be hidden, no matter what you are told, the person is lying.

  10. Xyz on April 25th, 2017 9:13 am

    I’ve attended harvest a long time come up through Royal Rangers under Mr. Charlie and he never did anything at all what so ever I looked up to him as a man of God and he taught me a lot. I just hope that yall will be slow to accuse and make sure you’re facts are straight befor you jump to conclusions

  11. Jake on April 25th, 2017 7:10 am

    My family use to attend Harvest and I seen a lot of times that the young kids would be out playing Hide and seek and other games if the weather allowed. I thought a lot of Charlie and thought he was a good man of the lord but the devil was inside him we all see that now. To harm a child or young pre- teenager is something that he should be punish to the max. I pray for all the ones that he has hurt. I believe the church should look over the guidelines and change things because we need to make sure our children are protected and safe.

  12. bama on April 25th, 2017 5:37 am

    This one does not sound right ,, I wonder if some are just ,making things up,, I am not saying all but this kid to me sounds made up..

  13. Fr÷da on April 24th, 2017 10:14 pm

    I still don’t understand how No one knew about him doing physicals.

  14. Susan on April 24th, 2017 9:04 pm

    It ought to be mandatory for child molesters to be castrated. Just saying!!!!

  15. Samro on April 24th, 2017 4:21 pm

    Haha I can forget about getting any of my money back!