A Fairfax County high school teacher and former sports coach was arrested Wednesday on charges of possessing and intent to distribute steroids, police said.
Jeffery Reagan, 43, had served as an assistant high school football and track coach at the South County Secondary School in Lorton and was recently being considered for a football coaching position at West Springfield Secondary School, police and school officials said. Reagan also taught at Mountain View Alternative Learning Center.
(Courtesy of Fairfax County police/COURTESY OF FAIRFAX COUNTY POLICE) - Jeffery Reagan is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Fairfax County court.
More crime and safety news
Year-long manhunt ends with arrest of man indicted on murder charge year ago.
Carbon monoxide fumes send seven to hospitals after tools were used in confined area, officials say.
FBI says the pair ‘fell a significant distance’ while rappelling from a helicopter off the Virginia coast.
“We don’t have evidence to say he was distributing steroids to children, but it is an ongoing investigation,” said Lucy Caldwell, a Fairfax County police spokeswoman. “This is a good opportunity for parents to have conversations with their student athletes.”
Reagan, of the 10000 block of Moxleys Ford Lane in Bristow, was arrested in the Sully Plaza Shopping Center, where he allegedly met his illegal steroid supplier around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
Reagan’s alleged supplier, Jeremy Helbing, 35, of Leesburg, also was arrested and charged with distributing steroids. After Helbing’s arrest, detectives searched the man’s home, where they uncovered numerous substances that appear to be steroids and are being tested, police said.
Fairfax County police detectives launched the investigation after receiving a tip in December 2011.
Mary Shaw, a Fairfax County schools spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail that Reagan has been suspended from his job at Mountain View without pay. She said he had been through the proper background checks and was a coach at South County from 2007 to 2011.
Pete Bendorf, a former South County High School football coach, said Reagan coached freshman football there under him. Bendorf said Reagan had been a lineman on a club football team at George Mason University. He said there was no indication that any football players at South County used steroids during Reagan’s time as a coach at the school.
“It’s a little sad to hear,” Bendorf said about Reagan’s arrest. “He was extremely loyal and I never had any issues with him.”
Shaw said Reagan had only brief contact with the West Springfield football program. “His ‘association’ with West Springfield consisted of attendance during two days of a recent football camp and a fitness workout session as part of him being evaluated to join the football staff,” Shaw wrote in her e-mail.
A booster club for the school listed Reagan as the offensive and defensive line coach on its Web site. The reference was recently removed.
On Thursday, the principals of South County and West Springfield sent e-mails to parents about Reagan’s arrest. In the West Springfield note, Principal Mark Greenfelder said Reagan was “never alone” with the students during his brief time with the football team.
Reagan is scheduled to be arraigned Friday in Fairfax County court. Neither he nor Helbing could be reached for comment.
Staff writers Paul Tenorio, James Wagner and Preston Williams contributed to this report.
The Post Most: LocalMost-viewed stories, videos and galleries int he past two hours
Loading...
Comments