COLUMBIA, S.C. — A former school resource officer has been arrested after the sheriff says he has an inappropriate relationship with a student at the school where he worked.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced Wednesday afternoon that Jamel Bradley has been charged with criminal sexual conduct third degree.
"It's hard to find words to describe the emotions that I have," Lott said. "Angry, sadness that it happened. To say you'd like to strangle or shoot somebody I'd love to do that, but that's not something we can do."
Officers say the incident came to light last Friday, after media reports surfaced that Bradley was the subject of a lawsuit by a former Spring Valley High student who claimed Bradley was inappropriate with her. The latest allegations, however, involved a different 17-year-old girl at the school.
Lott says the incident happened in 2018, but did not happen at the school, but at a separate location. But Lott said that doesn't matter.
"He was in my uniform, and he was in our patrol car," Lott said. "It's horrific to have to stand here and apologize to the victim and our community...Unfortunately we had a monster that worked among us."
Jamel Bradley, a former standout basketball player at the University of South Carolina, was hired by the sheriff's department in 2007, and assigned to several schools. He was fired on October 30, Lott said, for interfering in the investigations made in the previously fired lawsuit.
Bradley had not worked as a school resource officer in Richland Two since December of 2018.
The family of the other student is also suing both the sheriff's department and
Richland County School District Two.