A volunteer basketball coach at Lehigh Senior High School was arrested for sending inappropriate text messages to a player.
According to a Lee County Sheriff's Office document, on Jan. 21, deputies were dispatched to a call from a mother reporting her child's basketball coach was speaking in a sexually inappropriate way to her child.
She told deputies that on Nov. 8, 2024, she saw her child's coach, 41-year-old Steven Bennett, sharing his location with her child on their phone. She also stated he gave her child money for food whenever they told him they needed it.
She expressed that she didn't like their relationship and felt it was inappropriate for their coach to do these things, but her child insisted nothing was going on and that she was overreacting.
Her child and Bennett continued communicating, including interactions at the child's basketball games.
According to the document, she saw Bennett dropping off food to her child around midnight on her Ring doorbell on Jan. 20. She then took the child's phone the next day.
Deputies then searched the phone after she provided it. According to LCSO, in the messages between the two, Bennett told the victim they were a (expletive) and like straight Black men.
He also told the victim that he liked to watch pornography and believed they watched pornography as well.
Deputies interviewed the victim, who told them Bennett was only a coach and helped them with money when they needed it, and the relationship was not sexual.
On Jan. 23, the principal and assistant principal of Lehigh Senior High School were interviewed. Both said they asked other members of the basketball team if they received messages from Bennett. However, they did not show anything inappropriate. The messages were reportedly not the same in nature as the ones he sent to the victim.
According to the document, the school's principal, Darya Grote, said Bennett was notified that he was no longer allowed on campus and had since been removed from his volunteer coaching position.
During an interview at the Children's Advocacy Center, the victim said Bennett sent them several hundred dollars during their talks and sometimes took them home from basketball practices.
The victim also told investigators that Bennett would send them money for food, haircuts and gifts for their girlfriend or family. The victim denied anything physical ever happening with Bennett.
According to LCSO, on Feb. 5, a download of the text messages revealed the victim talked to Bennett about having a girlfriend and having sex with their girlfriend. Bennett asked if the victim had taken a video, the victim replied no but sent him a photo of what she looked like.
LCSO said Bennett replied with, "Dad will pay for recordings, haha."
Bennett was charged with obscene communication - use computer to seduce, solicit, or lure a child.
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