Photo: Preston Harmon
A former Izard County High School athlete arrested Saturday on child-sex charges made his first appearance in Craighead County Circuit Court on Monday, where he faced a trio of charges.
Twenty-six-year-old Preston Harmon of Jonesboro saw his bond set at $100,000 on charges of internet stalking of a child, sexual indecency with a child and computer child porn. His next appearance will be Sept. 28, according to KAIT in Jonesboro.
Harmon was entering his first year as a junior high basketball coach at the Valley View School District in Jonesboro, after previously working as a coach in the Bay School District. He is a 2012 graduate of Izard County High School, where he excelled in multiple sports and went on to play college golf at Central Baptist College in Conway.
A probable cause affidavit filed in the case says police were called to Harmon’s Jonesboro home after receiving a suicide threat.
KAIT reports the affidavit says Harmon allegedly told police “he was a local school teacher and that he had been sending sexually explicit messages to a former juvenile.”
Officers later interviewed the juvenile Harmon mentioned, and she advised police she was a former student, and he had been sending her messages of a “sexually-explicit nature” for several months beginning at the end of 2019. She told police Harmon had contacted her on several messaging platforms.
The affidavit states that during questioning, Harmon allegedly admitted to detectives to sending and receiving messages of a “sexually-explicit” nature and admitted to “sexting” and sending a message containing a “sexually-explicit” photo to the juvenile.
In a statement to KAIT, Valley View school attorney Donn Mixon says no sexually oriented text messages were sent to any students in the school district, and the teacher (Harmon) will not be permitted on the school’s campus for the time being.
The attorney says the Valley View district received a call from a patron of another school district, informing them of the alleged text messaging.
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