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	Former Athletic Director Francis Murphy Pleads Not Guilty to Charges for Improper Contact By Carl Hessler Times Herald June 29, 2011 http://timesherald.com/articles/2011/06/29/news/doc4e0b5261276c2735586473.txt A former Archbishop Carroll High School athletic director has pleaded not guilty to charges he allegedly had improper contact with a teenage boy who was an ex-student. Francis Murphy, 39, of the 1000 block of East Lancaster Avenue, Radnor, waived his arraignment in Montgomery County Court and pleaded not guilty to charges of promoting prostitution, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of a minor in connection with alleged incidents that occurred in April. By waiving his arraignment, Murphy did not have to appear before a judge on Wednesday for a formal reading of the charges lodged against him. Murphy, who remains free on $250,000 bail pending his next court hearing, will be scheduled for trial on the charges. Before taking the job at Archbishop Carroll in 1999, Murphy coached football and baseball at Kennedy Kenrick Catholic High School between 1996 and 1998. Murphy was apprehended in April after he allegedly arrived to pick up the former student at Frosty Falls, an ice cream shop in Bridgeport, for a sexual tryst, according to a criminal complaint. Murphy, who had been one of the teen’s football coaches, was met by several Montgomery County detectives who arrested him on the spot. The student, who was leaving Archbishop Carroll to attend Upper Merion High School, met Murphy when he was in football camp in ninth grade, according to authorities. Murphy, who was the offensive coordinator for Carroll’s football team, had recruited the youth to play ball for the Catholic high school. When the 11th grade student, who had recently left the high school for financial reasons, sent a Facebook request to Murphy asking for the coach’s help in retrieving a pair of cleats in the boy’s old locker, Murphy readily agreed and allegedly offered to become the teen’s “Sugar Daddy,” a term the high school athlete didn’t quite understand, according to court papers. During Facebook conversations, Murphy allegedly made sexually explicit suggestions and offered to buy the teenager gifts in exchange for sexual favors, according to prosecutors. The student, unfamiliar with the term, “sugar daddy,” looked it up and became angry. The teenager told Murphy he was not a female and asked how Murphy could think of him that way, the affidavit alleged. “We should try it out. See how you like it. I will hook you up. Must stay between us,” the athletic director allegedly responded. The boy subsequently told his mother, who reported the alleged conversations to police. A county detective, who created a new Facebook identity, posed as the boy and continued the communications with Murphy. Prosecutors have described the alleged online communications as “extremely graphic. After the detective’s first Facebook contact posing as the 11th grader on April 12, Murphy allegedly wasted little time trying to meet the boy in person. Eventually, Murphy set a date to meet and drove to meet the juvenile at 10:30 a.m. April 15 at the ice cream shop. But when he pulled up in the parking lot in his black Saturn expecting to rendezvous with the student, he was met by police and taken into custody. The day of Murphy’s arrest, school administrators sent a letter via email to school families informing them of the arrest and reaffirmed the school’s pledge to protect and prevent students from sexual abuse, according to the Philadelphia Archdiocese’s website.
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