From Mentor to House Arrest

Sex Charges Against Ex-Md. Coach Surprise Many

Before big Bulldogs football games at Bowie High, Aaron Burroughs, a volunteer coach, told his players to put girls out of their minds. Cancel dates, he told them. Girls mess up your game.

If federal criminal charges are true, he ignored his own advice.

Burroughs, a Metrobus driver from Crofton, was indicted last month on charges of first-degree child sexual abuse and sex trafficking. He is accused of acting as a pimp for and having sex with an unidentified girl who was 14 when they met last fall through his work with the football team.

In court filings, prosecutors portray Burroughs as a sexual predator masquerading as a role model. They say Burroughs, 36, lured a girl less than half his age into prostitution with the promise of easy money, driving her to cheap hotels in the District and Virginia and a carwash in Maryland, where she performed sexual acts for $50 or $100 -- less for his friends -- and then took a 60 percent cut.

The most damning evidence, prosecutors say, is a videotape they say he made of the girl having sex with him and his childhood friend, U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Michael Malloy, in Malloy's Southern Maryland home. At the end of the video, which was seized by the FBI, a man prosecutors say is Burroughs announces, "Another Bad Boy Entertainment film."

Malloy is under house arrest. He pleaded not guilty to child sexual abuse charges in D.C. Superior Court.

The man prosecutors call too dangerous to let out of jail while he awaits trial is not the man members of his close-knit family and many former football players say they know. To them, Burroughs was "Dink," "A" or "Coach Aaron." He was quiet and respectful. If he came over for dinner, he did the dishes. He had a ready ear to listen and dispensed fatherly advice.

"He was always telling us to work hard, to stay in school, to go to college," said Justin Phipps, a former player.

Days after his arrest in August, Burroughs's mother wrapped the wrought-iron railings outside their home with yellow ribbon. "My son is not a monster," she said tearfully.

Burroughs didn't drink or smoke, relatives said. He liked watching ballgames on television with his "Pops," a retired federal worker, and hanging out with buddies.

"He was into the upward mobility of young black men," said one of his friends, Orlando Walker. "He used to say, 'I'm going to make a difference in these boys' lives.' "

Burroughs and the girl met last fall, prosecutors allege, while he was a defensive coach for the junior varsity football team. Prosecutors say he got her to perform oral sex on him, then talked her into prostituting. They contend he used her as a "sexual toy," once taking her to a hotel in Staunton, Va., for a "date" with two of his friends and leaving her there.