From Mentor to House Arrest
Sex Charges Against Ex-Md. Coach Surprise Many

By Brigid Schulte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 24, 2006

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.

Under District law, a person younger than 16 having sex with someone at least four years older constitutes child sexual abuse. One of Burroughs's assault charges is "aggravated": Prosecutors contend that he knew the girl was underage because he saw a document listing her name and age. She is identified in court documents only by her initials.

The investigation by D.C. police and the FBI's Human Trafficking Task Force continues "to the extent that there are or may be additional victims out there who would like to come forward," said Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Washington.

Immediately after his arrest, police said, Burroughs acknowledged the relationship with the girl and said he had recorded some of their sexual liaisons on his cellphone.

But Burroughs's attorney, Kevin McCants, discounted that statement.

"I saw the tape[of his questioning], and the only thing I saw was, when they asked if he had an attorney, he said he did not," McCants said. "There is a lot of misunderstanding, a lot of assumptions and connections made, and the evidence is not there."

In court appearances, Burroughs's attorneys said they wanted him to be evaluated by an expert in sexual disorders.

"If he has a problem, let it be known," said Burroughs's father, James. "Because this is not the way I raised him."

Eager to Coach

At Bowie High, one of Maryland's largest secondary schools, Burroughs was in the broadcasting club and ran indoor track. He wasn't good enough for the football team, he would later say. He graduated in 1989.

He became a volunteer coach in 2002 after years of trying. Scott Chadwick, the head coach until 2001, refused to hire him. "There was just something about him I didn't trust," he said. "Honestly, he came off a little bit sneaky to me."

Only three of Bowie High's 13 football coaches are paid. Until Burroughs's arrest, there were no background checks of volunteers.

In interviews with more than a dozen former football players, they said Burroughs arrived at school well before practice, sometimes in his bus driver's blue work shirt, and stayed late, remaining with students who were waiting for their parents to pick them up. Often, he gave them rides home in his gold Range Rover.

Before games, he often went to IHOP with players, they recalled. Afterward, he joined them for chicken wings at Glory Days Grill, a roadhouse. He spent weekends with team members, playing football video games or watching games on TV, they said.

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.