Volunteer Coach Indicted On Charges Of Raping Student

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A volunteer track coach and youth minister accused of raping a 14-year-old Dyersburg student traveling with him to a cross country match has been indicted by a Knox County grand jury.

Forty-four-year-old Timothy Neal Byars is charged in the indictment with counts including rape, sexual battery by an authority figure and aggravated statutory rape.

Byars allegedly molested the girl at Victor Ashe Park on Nov. 18 while she was asleep in the back of his SUV.

Byars drove his two teenage daughters, the 14-year-old victim and the victim's older sister to Knoxville so that they could compete in the Amateur Athletic Union Southeast Cross Country Championships.

The group arrived at the park hours before the championship rested in the vehicle -- and that's when court records say Byars allegedly began molesting the girl.

Police say Byars later admitted the alleged rape when confronted by the investigators.

In addition to serving as Dyersburg High School track coach, Byars also worked as a minister at Springhill Baptist Church in Dyersburg.