A longtime Ripley High School athletic director and athletic trainer is in jail and no longer works for Jackson County Schools after deputies arrested him Friday night on felony charges involving a 16-year-old student.
Steven Lough, 56, of Ripley, was taken into custody by Jackson County Sheriff's deputies at Ripley's home football game on Friday, Nov. 6, according to the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Ross Mellinger said the investigation began earlier that day after the teenager and her family came forward.
Investigators say the relationship began when the student contacted Lough about an injury. According to the sheriff's department, it then progressed to sexually explicit messages and photos and, eventually, multiple incidents of sexual contact on school property during school hours, including in the athletic training room and a classroom. The most recent alleged incident happened Saturday, Oct. 31, deputies said.
The student and her parents allowed investigators to examine her phone, and deputies said the messages they found backed up her account. The sheriff said Lough was on the field and communicating with the student during Friday's game, which is why deputies moved to arrest him right away.
According to the sheriff's department, Lough admitted during an interview to sexual contact with the student on at least three occasions in October and to exchanging explicit messages and images. Deputies said he consented to a search of his phone, which they said corroborated the student's statements.
Lough is charged with three felony counts of sexual contact against a student by a school employee and one felony count of use of obscene matter with intent to seduce a minor. He is being held at South Central Regional Jail.
Jackson County Schools Superintendent Will Hosaflook said in a statement that Lough, who also taught health, is no longer employed by the school system effective Nov. 6. Hosaflook said school employees are entrusted with protecting students and that the trust "must never be compromised," adding that his heart aches for the alleged victim and her family and for the entire community.
Lough had been part of Ripley athletics for roughly two decades and was twice named West Virginia's athletic trainer of the year, in 2012 and 2015.
The sheriff's department is asking anyone else who believes they may have been victimized to contact the Jackson County Sheriff's Department.
The charges are accusations, and Lough is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.