FAIRBORN, Ohio — A former Carlisle football coach and Beavercreek schools employee appeared in court Monday to address a petty theft charge.
Thomas “T.J.” Smart entered a no contest plea, the Journal-News reports, and was found guilty of the first-degree misdemeanor charge in Fairborn Municipal Court.
No sentencing date was set but a pre-sentence investigation was ordered by the court. Petty theft is a first-degree misdemeanor.
Smart resigned from the Carlisle High School head football coaching position on May 23 following his May 21 arrest by Beavercreek police for allegedly stealing about $600 in ticket sales proceeds following a May 9 girls lacrosse game from his full-time employer, Beavercreek Local Schools.
On May 21, a police officer escorted Smart from his Beavercreek High School classroom to the police department, where he admitted to a detective that he stole the lacrosse game cash box from the school. He also admitted to taking adult and student ticket rolls and the ticket sales ledger.
Police said Smart used a master key for the high school building to gain entry to the office, to which he had access when he was a site manager for the district. He was no longer working in that capacity and should not have had access to it, according to the police report.
Police recovered the ticket log from Smart’s vehicle and found the adult and student ticket rolls at his Kettering home, according to the report.
The Carlisle board formally accepted his resignation May 29. Carlisle schools hired Smart on Feb. 11 to his first head coaching position. He had been an assistant coach at several area schools, including Oakwood, Tipp City Bethel and Beavercreek. While he would be Carlisle’s head coach, Smart had planned to keep his job with Beavercreek schools.
Smart replaced former coach Mike Brown, who led the Carlisle program for the past four years.
Smart resigned his job as a special education aide with Beavercreek schools, and the district sent a report to the Ohio Department of Education’s Office of Professional Conduct for review and investigation of his education license.
On June 6, Carlisle Local Schools hired former Bethel and Beavercreek football coach Scott Clodfelter as its new varsity football coach.
