Cheerleading Coach Sentenced In Sexual Abuse Of Teen

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA — A cheerleading coach has been sentenced to prison in connection with the sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl at his Snellville home.

A judge sentenced Charles Archibald Moore III, 33, to 25 years, with 12 to serve in prison, after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a cheerleader he coached, prosecutors say.

The allegations against Moore started in 2024, when prosecutors said the teenage girl disclosed the abuse in Walton County.

At the time, Moore was coaching at STAR Athletics Cheers and Tumbling in Barrow County, Atlanta Jayhawks in Gwinnett County and Walnut Grove High School in Walton County, according to prosecutors.

At the guilty plea hearing, the girl testified that Moore was her cheerleading coach when he began requesting photos of her body through social media messages. Prosecutors said Moore offered money, vapes and THC cartridges in exchange for the images.

By her testimony, Moore then had sex with her inside his home and in the parking lot of a Barrow County cheerleading gym, prosecutors said.

He pled guilty to sexual exploitation of children, invasion of privacy, grooming of a minor and electronically furnishing obscene material to minors, prosecutors said.

They added Moore is facing pending charges in connection with suspected acts in Barrow and Walton counties.

“This defendant violated the trust he was given as a youth leader,” Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a news release. “This is despicable behavior. We pray that the victim and her family can recover and move forward.”

The Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office Special Victims Unit prosecuted the case.