Ex-Wrestling Coach At PWC High School Charged With Online Child Sex Offense

WOODSTOCK, VA – A former wrestling coach at Battlefield High School in Haymarket has been charged with using a computer to solicit a minor.

Charles Tyler Atwell of Rochelle, VA, was arrested on April 29 by the Shenandoah County Sheriff's Office and charged with using a computer to commit sex offenses with a minor, according to court records. Punishment for the class 6 felony can be up to 5 years in jail.

What appears to be the Instagram account of Atwell’s private wrestling academy, Atwell Trained, shows photos of wrestlers from Battlefield High School in Haymarket. The account also lists Atwell as a Virginia National Team coach and a coach with the Ranger Wrestling Club. It lists training sites in Leesburg and Manassas.

The account’s last post is from April 19, the day a complaint against the coach was filed, according to court documents.

WUSA 9 reports that the principal of Battlefield High School has written to parents about the arrest, stressing that Atwell is not currently working with the school.

“We have been informed about the recent arrest of Tyler Atwell, former assistant wrestling coach at Battlefield High School. Public records indicate he was arrested for solicitation of a minor in another Virginia county. Mr. Atwell has not been working with our school since March; however, I understand that this news may be unsettling,” Battlefield High School Principal Delores Lucas wrote in a letter to parents, according to WUSA 9.

Atwell’s next court date is May 21 in Shenandoah Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.