From Mentor to House Arrest

Current head coach Jae Jackson said he never saw anything troubling. "I saw someone who came out to volunteer their time to coach football," he said. "I never saw him be inappropriate."

Others suspected a hidden side.

"If we'd be in a huddle and a girl walked by, he'd tell us his little fantasies, what he'd do with them if he was given the opportunity," said one former player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of being associated with the case.

Burroughs has a personal profile on MySpace, a Web site used mostly by young people. In his picture, he is wearing an orange sweat shirt, baggy jeans and a baseball cap turned backward over his shaved head. He lists as "friends" five bikini-clad women and rapper Snoop Dogg.

On Classmates.com, he describes himself as "single and loving it." If he won $100 million, he wrote, it would "change very little about my life, just enjoy the money." Asked how he viewed his life, he wrote: "I've accomplished more than I thought I would."

Burroughs left Bowie before the 2004 season because of disagreements over football strategy with Ray Hicks, the head coach at the time. After Jackson was hired, Burroughs returned for the 2005 season.

Hicks said he never saw anything untoward, but in retrospect he said he was uncomfortable with Burroughs's chumminess with students. "Being in a position of authority, you have to draw the line in the sand," Hicks said. "And sometimes, with him, that line in the sand got blurred."

Day of Arrest

Burroughs, his mother and younger brother live in a quiet townhouse community. Neighbors would see him leave for work at 3 or 4 a.m. He joked about his lawn. He parked his car with care.

On July 31, according to police reports, Burroughs picked up the girl, took her to the District, had sex with her in his Range Rover in the parking lot of the Bladensburg Metrobus depot and then checked her into the Budget Motor Inn on New York Avenue NE. A room with one bed goes for $56.76 a night. A sign in the lobby warns patrons to "Count Your Change Before You Leave."

At 3 a.m., Takoma Park police saw the girl having oral sex with a man in a deserted parking lot. The man said he had paid her $150. While in custody, police records show, the girl told officers about her relationship with Burroughs. Officers had her call Burroughs and ask him to meet her at the motel. Police found two ounces of marijuana, a scale and plastic baggies in his car, along with the girl's backpack, they said. He was arrested him on the spot.

Prosecutors said he told them that he was selling the pot to high school students to help pay child support for his daughter, who lives with her mother. His Metro salary last year topped $51,000, records show.

Only hours earlier, Burroughs had gone to a Sunday dinner with Orlando Walker and Walker's wife. He talked about wanting to get back with his daughter's mother. "I told him," Walker said, "a good woman will make you a better man."

These days, the yellow ribbons wrapped around the stairs leading to the townhouse in the quiet little community where Burroughs lived with his mother are faded, the edges fraying as the weather turns ugly and winter sets in.

Staff researcher Meg Smith and staff writer Carol D. Leonnig contributed to this report.