Daily Mail
April 19, 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1378301/Sports-coach-Catholic-school-offered-boy-gifts-exchange-sexual-favours.html
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| Charged: Athletics director Francis Murphy allegedly tried to solicit sex from a former student |
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| Accusation: The athletics director of this private Catholic high school has been arrested after allegedly offering a boy gifts in return for sex |
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| Philadelphia scandal: Edward Avery, James Brennan, Charles Engelhardt (top row L-R), and William Lynn and Bernard Shero (bottom row) all face charges connected to child sex abuse after a grand jury investigation last month |
The athletics director of a Catholic school has been charged for allegedly offering a former 11th grade student gifts in return for sexual favours.
Francis Murphy, 39, was arrested after police used the boy's Facebook account to set up a meeting with him in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, where he allegedly believed the student - who had left the school for financial reasons - would offer him sex.
It's the second sex scandal to hit the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in little more than a month.
In March, 21 priests were suspended amid allegations of child abuse, and three were criminally charged.
Murphy, who has worked at Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor Township since 1999, was put on administrative leave today after his arrest at an ice cream parlour on Friday.
According to prosecutors he sent the student messages on Facebook chat telling him he would be 'his sugar daddy'. Murphy allegedly wrote he would 'help [him] out with money and stuff in exchange for favours.'
Murphy recruited the student for the school at a football camp in ninth grade, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman.
He left this year for financial reasons, then contacted Murphy on Facebook to ask him to get his baseball cleats out of the locker room.
He agreed to help, but then the conversation allegedly became sexual. According to an arrest affidavit he offered the boy athletics gear and trainer in return for specific sexual acts, which he listed using abbreviations.
According to the affidavit: 'Murphy told the juvenile many times that this would have to be kept between the two of them.'
But the student told his mother, who rang police. At first detectives took over the student's Facebook profile, before creating another account to communicate with Murphy.
Posing as the boy, they set up a meeting with the coach at the Frosty Falls Ice Cream Shop in Bridgeport on Friday morning.
Officers arrested Murphy as he drove into the parking lot at 10.35am.
They charged him with attempted corruption of a minor, promoting prostitution and unlawful contact with a minor.
He was arraigned later the same day, and is being held in Montgomery County prison on $250,000 bail.
Today the school said it had put Murphy on administrative leave until the outcome of the case was decided. He can have no contact with minors or students from the school, according to archdiocesan spokesman Donna Farrell.
Mrs Farrell told the Philadelphia Inquirer all the required criminal background checks and child abuse clearances had been carried out.
In a letter sent to parents this morning, officials 'reaffirmed our pledge to parents that the prevention of child abuse and protection of children is our primary concern.'
The district attorney said there was never any sexual contact between the two, and claimed there was only 'the offer of an ongoing relationship'.
She said: 'We will look to see if there are any other victims out there with similar acts.'
Murphy previously worked as the baseball coach and assistant football coach at Kennedy-Kenrick High School.
In March the archdiocese, the sixth largest in the nation, was hit by a paedophilia scandal in which a monsignor, three priests, a former priest and a school teacher were charged with sexually assaulting young boys.
A further 21 priests were suspended after a grand jury investigation claimed they had behaved 'inappropriately' with minors.
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