WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A former interim head football coach at William T. Dwyer Community High School was sentenced to one year in jail and five years of sexual offender probation on Tuesday, one day after pleading guilty to two charges.
Reginald D. Stanley, 55, of West Palm Beach, was arrested by school police in May 2021 on charges over the course of four years involving one victim beginning in 1998 and ending in 2002.
The school district said Stanley last worked at the Palm Beach Gardens school more than a year and a half earlier. He was the interim head football coach at Dwyer in 2019 following the retirement of longtime coach Jack Daniels.
Stanley initially pleaded "not guilty" but on Monday morning, on what was supposed to be his first day of trial, he abruptly took a deal and pleaded guilty to lewd or lascivious battery and unlawful sexual activity with a minor. They are second-degree felonies.
Officials said Stanley did not work at any other Palm Beach County schools besides Dwyer. After his arrest, the school district said Stanley was reassigned to another location, off-campus and away from students.
The school district said the case was reopened in 2020 when the accuser contacted school police with new information that was not available when she first approached investigators in 2019.
During the incidents, he was a football coach and "behavioral intervention assistant" whose job was to help troubled kids,
No additional potential victims have been identified.