By Thomas W. Krause
The Tampa Tribune

The state attorney’s office has filed 19 felony charges of “promotion of sexual performance by a child” against former Tampa Prep swim coach Kimberly Brabson III. He is expected to turn himself in within the next day or so, according to the state attorney’s office.

This marks the first felony charges stemming from the videotape that police say shows underage students changing clothes in Brabson’s office.

He still faces 10 misdemeanor charges of voyeurism. .

Officials with the state attorney’s office declined comment. Paperwork detailing the additional charges lists the initials of 19 minors who were identified from the videotape.

School head D. Gordon MacLeod has said Brabson was fired on Nov. 10 after administrators heard he had asked several girls to change into swimsuits in his office instead of the girls’ locker room.

Later, police recovered a videotape from the office that showed several girls, ages 11 to 16, changing clothes.

Jodi Leisure, the law partner of Tom Carey - a lawyer whose daughters were videotaped - said the videotape includes as many as 50 girls. Police, she said, have identified 21 of them and are continuing to investigate.

“We don’t know how many other tapes there are,” Leisure said.

School officials should have known Brabson was a problem, Leisure said.

MacLeod has said Brabson was reprimanded once before when a female student complained that Brabson made her model a swimsuit. He was allowed to continue teaching and coaching.

“We feel the school had a duty to investigate this teacher,” Leisure said. “There should have been zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”

Carey said he feels betrayed by the private school that he trusted to take care of his daughters. He said his family chose Tampa Prep because of its excellent reputation for protecting children.

“That’s why this is so ironic,” he said.

 

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