WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Wrestling coach arrested on sexual abuse charges

Wrestling coach arrested on sexual abuse charges

By Scott Harvey
WAVE 3 Investigator

SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) -- WAVE 3 has learned that a man who is a local high school wrestling coach, a substitute teacher and a youth minister has been arrested. The Bullitt County Sheriff's Department says the Shepherdsville man sexually abused a 15 year old girl at the church. WAVE 3 Investigator Scott Harvey has the details.

We had a chance to speak to the victim's mother who -- obviously distraught -- described 25-year-old Clayton Pruett as a wolf in sheep's clothing. She now has a strong warning for all parents.

"Don't trust people that are alone with your children," said the woman, who asked not to be identified. She says her daughter was the victim of sexual abuse, for more than a year.

"I didn't listen to the little things my daughter was telling me," she said. "That's because I trusted him."

Pruett worked as a youth minister at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Shepherdsville where investigators say he trapped the 15 year old girl inside a room and abused her. 

Detective Scotty McGaha said, "Jobs that he has, he's definitely a role model. Unfortunately, he abused that power."

WAVE 3 discovered Pruett also works as an assistant wrestling coach and substitute teacher at Bullitt Central High School. Officials there say he is suspended without pay, depending on the outcome of the investigation.

"Had our church reacted to it, when we reported it to them, a lot of things that she has encountered since, wouldn't have happened to her," said the 15-year-old victim's mother. 

The young girl's mother told me, they reported Pruett to the Pastor at Pleasant Grove several months ago. When I asked Pastor Von Smith about that, he denied it.

"Nothing was reported of any sexual misconduct and such, until in the past few days, when we had gotten that word," Smith said.

Now this concerned mother worries for other children who have been alone with Pruett.

"Everybody talk to your children," she said. "If your children have been around this man, and make sure that nothing has happened to them."

Pruett is charged with first degree sexual abuse, but investigators say more charges could be filed later.

Online Reporter: Scott Harvey

Online Producer: Charles Gazaway