Staff reports



Northeast Middle School teacher Clifford "Scooter" Holloway has been suspended without pay after he allegedly drove to Pensacola, Fla., to have sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Holloway, 56, of 7759 Lizalia Road, Meridian, was arrested in Pensacola on Thursday and charged with multiple sexual offenses involving minors. After sending nude photographs of himself to who he thought was a 15-year-old girl he met online, he set up a meeting with her Thursday afternoon and drove from Meridian, Pensacola police said. Instead of a young girl, Holloway was messaging an undercover Pensacola police officer in a sting operation.

When he arrived in downtown Pensacola, he was arrested. Holloway has been charged with two counts of sexual assault on a child 16  years or older, two counts of transmitting pornography to a minor and  one count of traveling to have sex with a minor. Additional charges are pending, police said.

Pensacola police had been communicating with Holloway since mid-June on social networking site MySpace.com. The reason they were monitoring Holloway: a woman contacted Pensacola police in June claiming Holloway had sex with her 16-year-old daughter after the two met on Myspace, Pensacola police said.

Lauderdale County Superintendent Randy Hodges said Thursday the school district will deliver a letter to Holloway's  address notifying him he's been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

Holloway teaches science and physical education at Northeast Middle School; he has taught and coached in the Lauderdale County School District for 28 years. He has coached different sports over the years, including golf, Hodges said. He has also taught at Northeast High School.

Hodges said he was informed Friday morning about 10:30 a.m. by local law enforcement of Holloway's arrest. Since then, Hodges said he's also contacted some school board members and the school board's attorney.

"There are going to be all kinds of rumors," Hodges said. "Comments will be made; I'm focused on the facts. We owe it to the school district to move forward in a positive way ... and stay focused on a positive start for the school year.

"This is terrible it really is. It's the last thing you want to hear from an employee because number one the first responsibility we have is to make sure our students are safe."

Lauderdale County School district students are scheduled to return to school Aug. 7. Hodges said there were no written complaints against Holloway on file. No parents have called Central Office yet, he said.

Hodges also said the school district will begin search for a new teacher to replace Holloway in hopes of having them in place by Aug. 7.

"We want to try to find a certified teacher and the best we can get so we don't lose any quality instruction time," Hodges said.

News of the arrest quickly spread throughout the county to parents on Friday.

"I would not want him teaching my child after an accusation like that," said Helen Stufflebean, whose 9-year-old daughter attends Northeast Elementary School.

"I don't think he should be allowed to teach at all – in fact I think his teaching license should be revoked," Stufflebean said.

Aside from working at Northeast, Holloway also works part time at Lowe's  Home Improvement in Meridian.

"Oh my ... that is terrible," a shocked Luther Edwards, store manager at Lowe's, said upon hearing the news on Friday.

Edwards said Holloway had taken a few days off from work and was not on the schedule for the weekend. Holloway worked in the store's paint department for about 5 years, Edwards said.

"He's a great employee,” he said. “He was nice and never said a lot but just worked hard and did his job. This is bad. I hate to hear this."

Lauderdale County Sheriff Billy Sollie and Meridian Police Chief Benny DuBose said they both have been contacted by Pensacola law Enforcement about Holloway’s arrest.

"We're just hoping there are no victims here," Sollie said.



The arrest, background



Holloway was arrested around 3:30 p.m. Thursday after a member of the Northwest Florida Child Pornography Task Force saw him driving in the area of Palafox and Cervantes streets. Pensacola Police Officer Chris Wilkinson said Holloway drove to Pensacola on Thursday and arrived there around noon planning to meet the 15-year-old girl at a local motel around 2:20 p.m. and have sex with her.

Detective Tarlanda Gooden began investigating Holloway after Capt. Paul Kelly received a telephone call on June 15 from a concerned Pensacola mother who said her 16-year-old daughter had been communicating with a 56-year-old man via social networking site MySpace.com. The mother learned of their communications after checking her daughter’s MySpace page, police said. The girl told Pensacola Detective Tarlanda Gooden she had sex with Holloway twice in March at the Days Inn motel at Palafox and Cervantes streets.

Working undercover in mid-June, Pensacola police pretended to be a 15-year-old girl and communicated with Holloway using MySpace.

Wilkinson began communicating with Holloway on June 27. Wilkinson said he and Holloway communicated with  each other almost daily on the computer, and that a few weeks after  they began talking, the suspect asked about them meeting in Pensacola.

In both investigations, Holloway transmitted nude photographs of himself over the computer to the 16-year-old victim and to Wilkinson, Pensacola police said. He also asked both victims for nude photographs of themselves; Gooden said the 16-year-old victim complied.

As part of the on-going investigation, Wilkinson will do a forensic analysis of Holloway’s computer and cell phone to determine if he has been in contact with other minors.

Officers with the Pensacola Police Department, Escambia and Santa Rosa sheriff’s offices, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and State Attorney General’s CyberCrimes Unit participated in Thursday’s arrest.

Wilkinson said Holloway used the screen names MySpace.com/Golfcoach18 and Golfcoach18@Yahoo.com. On Friday, Holloway’s Myspace account showed that he had his mood as “Loved” on his last login time on Thursday.

Holloway is divorced and has two children. A graduate of Northeast High School, he furthered his studies at Meridian Community College and then Mississippi State University. He has taught at Northeast 27 years.

Any teen-agers who may have been in contact with Holloway or knows someone who has had contact with Holloway is asked to contact Detective Tarlanda Gooden at (850) 435 -1972.



• Meridian Star reporters Ida Brown and Jennifer Jacob Brown contributed to  this report.