By John Cotey
May 20, 2002

Lastings Milledge

Lastings Milledge, the No. 1 high school prospect for the 2003 draft, was expelled from Northside Christian of St. Petersburg, Fla., amid allegations of inappropriate behavior with a minor girl, Milledge's father said.

The state attorney's office was investigating Milledge, an outfielder, and another athlete at the school for an incident which occurred off campus, Tony Milledge said.

But Tony Milledge, who is a Florida Highway Patrol officer, denied his son did anything wrong and said both players were at a practice at the time the incident allegedly occurred. Milledge said the school did not wait for the state attorney's investigation to conclude before expelling the students, three days after the Mustangs' loss to Brito Private in the Florida 1-A championship game.

"It's all a bunch of crap," Tony Milledge said. "All the allegations were found to be untrue. They know we don't have the money and can't go out and holler and scream at anybody. The only thing is they just don't want him back. They told the boys it was in everyone's best interests if they don't come back to school."

Northside Christian principal Larry Webster, who would only say the expulsion was related to a violation of school rules, said the school did not take any action until May 17 because, "We felt like we wanted to wait until the state attorney had concluded their investigation."

Asked why the school didn't continue to wait, Webster said, "We basically got a green light from them to do what we needed to do."

In April, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Marianne Pasha said there was "an open investigation involving two male students at the school . . . involving alleged lewd and lascivious activities involving several young female students."

She added no one was arrested, no charges were filed and the case was in the hands of the state attorney's office. Records are not available because the parties are juveniles.

Because of the timing of Milledge's expulsion just after the season, Webster said he was bracing for criticism from those who suggest the two are related.

"I know, but our timing had nothing to do with the status of our baseball team," he said. "It's completely unrelated. I think people are going to draw their own conclusions . . . We made a decision we felt was appropriate at the time."

Tony Milledge said the family hadn't formed a plan for where Lastings, 17, would attend school next year.