A Carter County man faces a sexual battery charge after police say he had inappropriate contact with a teenage girl that he held authority over.
On Friday, Tennessee Constable Mark Carrier arrested Earl Richard Clarke, 72, of 205 Apple Tree Lane, Elizabethton, on an indictment charging him with one count of sexual battery by an authority figure.
According to the indictment, Clarke is alleged to have committed the offense of sexual battery by an authority figure “by knowingly engaging in unlawful sexual contact” with a 14-year-old girl, and at the time of the offense Clarke “was in a position of trust or had supervisory or disciplinary power over the victim by virtue of the defendant’s legal status and used such power to accomplish the sexual act.”
Under state law, sexual battery by an authority figure is classified as a “Class C” felony.
Following his arrest, officers transported Clarke to the Carter County Detention Center, where he remains held on a $50,000 bond. Clarke is scheduled to appear in Carter County Criminal Court on Sept. 15.