Former Charleston High School teacher and coach Willie Bell III last week pleaded guilty to fondling a female student while he was employed at the school.
Sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. May 23 before Circuit Judge Jimmy McClure at the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Sumner.
Bell faces a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine. The minimum penalty for the offense is two years imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine.
Bell, 28, who now lives at 7850 Autumn Hollow Dr., Apt. 8, in Cordova, Tennessee, entered the guilty plea during an April 2 hearing at the Tate County Courthouse in Senatobia.
His trial on two counts of sexual battery and one count of fondling in the case was supposed to get underway April 8 at the Tallahatchie County Courthouse in Charleston, but the prosecution and defense had been in continuing negotiations which led to a plea bargain.
According to court documents, the district attorney’s office is prepared next month to recommend that McClure impose a sentence of two years, with one year to be served by Bell in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and one year of private probation house arrest, followed by three years of post-release supervision. However, a judge is never bound by the terms of a plea bargain arrangement and has the final decision as to the sentence.
Under terms of the plea bargain, both sexual battery charges have been remanded to court files.
Bell was charged with engaging in sexual relations with a female student at CHS who was said to be under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged Nov. 28, 2017, offense.
Bell was in his second year of employment as the Algebra I teacher and head coach of the boys varsity basketball team at CHS.
First official news of the accusations against Bell reportedly was presented to the East Tallahatchie School District Board of Trustees in executive session during their Jan. 11, 2018, regular meeting.
At that same meeting, according to official minutes, then ETSD Superintendent Dr. Ben Kennedy informed the board that Bell had resigned his positions at CHS effective Jan. 10, 2018.
The charges against Bell were investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Office, leading to the issuance of a warrant for his arrest on Feb. 15, 2018.
On April 24, a Tallahatchie County grand jury impaneled in Charleston indicted Bell on two counts of sexual battery and one count of fondling.
At a May 17 pretrial hearing, Bell formally waived his arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty.
Before coming to Charleston, Bell, a native of Jackson, had taught in the Jackson, Hattiesburg and Raymond public schools.
