Robertson coach Branch charged with crimes against a minor

Robertson High School boys basketball coach James Branch was arrested and jailed late last week, charged with several crimes related to inappropriate contact with one of the female students at the middle school in Las Vegas, N.M., where he is a teacher.

Branch, 65, was charged last Friday with criminal sexual contact of a minor child by a person in position of authority, false imprisonment and battery.

An eighth-grade student at Memorial Middle School told Las Vegas police that Branch made inappropriate contact with her during school hours on Jan. 24.

A Las Vegas Police report details the interaction.

A student went to Branch’s classroom to do some work for the school yearbook and, according to the report, Branch grabbed the jacket the student was wearing near the waistline. The student told police she was confused by this contact.

Branch, the student told a police officer, then proceeded to move his hand to her buttocks.

Later, Branch is accused of grabbing the student by the wrist, at which point he began to massage it, the report stated. The student described Branch’s grip as “tight” and said that Branch remarked to her, “Do you like that? I know you like that.”

The student told the investigating officer that she tried to pull away and asked Branch why she wouldn’t let go of her. “Because I don’t want you to leave me,” Branch is alleged to have responded.

The report states that the student eventually forcefully pulled her arm away.

This incident, the student alleges in the report, was part of an ongoing pattern of inappropriate behavior Branch exhibited toward her since the beginning of the school year. Branch is listed as a seventh-grade English teacher.

The Memorial Middle School principal contacted Superintendent Melissa Sandoval at 5 p.m. on Jan. 24, to report the allegation against Branch.

About 30 minutes later, Branch was placed on administrative leave. Robertson was set to face West Las Vegas that Friday, but Branch was told to leave the gym before the game.

He was booked last Friday into the San Miguel County jail.

Branch, a longtime head coach in northern New Mexico who led Robertson to a state championship three years ago, has not coached the Cardinals since he was escorted out of the West Las Vegas gym on Jan. 24.