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ORLANDO---One of Florida's top high school coaches has been charged with possession of child pornography and possession of marijuana after one of his former female basketball players told the Orange County Sheriff's office that he had taken home movies of them having sex.
William "Buck" Lanham, 47, coach at Orlando Christian Prep, was arrested Thursday night at the school following an investigation.
The former player, now 23, reported her relationship with Lanham to the police in June, saying that she had started having sex with the coach when she was 14 when Lanham had coached at the Bishop Moore Catholic High School in Orlando.
Videotapes showing him having sex with the girl were seized by police and he allegedly told police that he was in love with the girl. She said she reported the relationship because she didn't want it to happen to other students.
According to the sex crimes unit of the sheriff's department, Lanham can't be charged with having sex with a minor because the statute of limitations has passed.
Lanham has been coaching at the prep school since 2002. He had been sentenced to three years in state prison followed by 26 years of probation after being after in 1988 for possession of four ounces of cocaine. Records indicate that he secured an early release after joining prison ministries.
He resigned from Bishop Moore in 2001 after allegations that he had had an altercation with one of the female players on the basketball team. Lanham coached at Bishop Moore from 1996 through 2001 and after joining the Orlando prep school, the girls' basketball teams have a 108-25 record and have gone to the state high school Final Four on three occasions.
According to police, the former player said that she had first had sex with the coach when she was 14 and in the eighth grade at St. John Vianney Catholic School. She alleges that they had sex 60 to 100 times in hotels and in the Lanham's apartment.
When Lanham left Bishop Moore, so did the girl, transferring to Orlando Christian Prep School. After the complainant told police that Lanham had videotaped their sex acts, the police secured a search warrant for Lanham's apartment and found eight videotapes, with two of them showing the coach having sex with the complainant. 10-07-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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