SUMTER, S.C. — The Sumter Police Department is investigating what it calls an an "inappropriate, sexual relationship" between a coach and a student.
A Lakewood High School coach, Peter Calhoun, is charged with sexual battery after the department says it discovered the relationship.
"It makes me sick to my stomach," one Sumter resident shares.
She didn’t want to be on camera, but talked about her concern after her two younger brothers recently graduated from the district.
"We already have to worry about kids being fed proper meals in school or school shootings or bullying and this and that and now we have to find ways to pick out child predators at school?" she questioned.
The Sumter School District says Calhoun started working at Lakewood at the beginning of the school year. He is now on administrative leave. This comes after two other Sumter coaches were arrested earlier this year on charges of inappropriate relations with students.
"It really does something to kids mentally. Not even at the time, but years later," the resident shares. "And here I am about to be 37 next week and I was taken advantage of when I was six and then later on in my adult life also and it sticks with you mentally. It does something and I do not wish that upon any kid."
The police department started its an investigation earlier this month after responding to an indecent exposure call, which it says involved Calhoun and a student. According to the department, information gathered indicates there have been multiple encounters between the two — but none happened on school property.
It’s unclear at this point if there are any other victims, as the investigation is ongoing.
Calhoun was denied bond, according to the police department. He’s currently being held at the Sumter County Detention Center.