Former Starkville Academy coach Jody Wayne Britt faces up to six years in prison and $20,000 in fines after pleading guilty Monday to two counts of luring a child to engage in sexually explicit computer communication.
Britt, 31, of Madison, was indicted on the two counts and an additional count of child exploitation by an Oktibbeha County grand jury in July after affidavits alleging incidents of misconduct were filed against the former SA employee last year.
According to those affidavits filed by the Starkville Police Department, Britt sent multiple sexual messages to two female Starkville Academy students, including requests that the students send him pornographic images of themselves.
Britt had already left Starkville Academy for a teaching position with Madison County School District by the time the allegations came to light.
In Monday’s plea, Britt confirmed the charges.
“I committed the offense[s] as alleged in the information,” Britt said.
Circuit Judge Jim Kitchens scheduled Britt’s sentencing for Nov. 14.
Each count carries a three-year maximum sentence and a $10,000-maximum fine. Additionally, Britt must register as a sex offender.
In January, a grand jury indicted Britt on two counts of enticing minors “to meet with him for the purpose of engaging in sexually explicit conduct,” but those charges were dropped in August after the new indictments emerged from new information presented to prosecutors.
The DA’s office retired the child exploitation charge in consideration of the victims, Assistant District Attorney Scott Rogillio said Monday.
“The biggest reason we agreed to retire was the family wanted this resolved so that he would face punishment and they would possibly avoid having their children testify,” Rogillio said.
Britt’s attorney C. Martin Haug declined to comment on the case.
According to a victim impact statement tied to the initial indictment, SA administrators notified SPD of the alleged inappropriate communications after they asked to see at least one of the students’ cellphones.
“We never sent him videos when he asked, nor did we say anything to encourage him,” one of the victims said in her statement. “We asked him countless times to stop, but he continued to harass us until he got scared and stopped. By then, it was too late.”
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