Youth football coach charged with sexual assault of family member, her friend

LAUREL, Md. - A Maryland volunteer youth football coach is facing rape and sexual assault charges after allegations were made by a teenage family member and her friend, authorities said.

Police arrested 35-year-old Warner Jenerio Jude Murphy at his Laurel home on Jan. 30 and have charged him with second-degree rape and several sex offenses after an 18-year-old female relative reported to police that she has been repeatedly sexually assaulted by Murphy since last November.

"According to charging documents in the case of Murphy's family member, the crimes occurred 'almost daily' and primarily at home," the City of Laurel said in a news release.

According to police, Murphy has been charged with additional sex offenses after the teenager's friend also came forward with sexual assault allegations against him.

Murphy was a volunteer coach at the Laurel Boys and Girls Club. The youth organization said Murphy did pass a background check. But in light of the allegations, Wilbert Nicholson, the vice president of the club, said he is no longer welcome there.

"He better not step foot on this property," Nicholson said. "I don't care if he hasn't been found guilty or not. To me, we don't need that around here."

"It's terrible," he added. "I heard a little bit of what took place and I couldn't believe it."

"There were no flags or anything that would indicate that any of this type of stuff was going on with us," said Adrian Rousseau, the president of the Laurel Boys and Girls Club. "We focus on the kids. We focus on mentoring. As much as we like to open our doors to volunteers, if we catch wind of this type of stuff, they are going to have to volunteer somewhere else or in another manner. It's not worth the risk."

For the past three years, Murphy coached boys from ages 6 to 8 years old on the football field. He even created a GoFundMe page for the kids to travel to the national championship in the 2015 season. Nicholson said his nephew was also on Murphy's football team this past fall.

The Laurel Boys and Girls Club is now working with its football commissioner to schedule a meeting to notify parents about Murphy and the charges he is facing.

Investigators believe there could be additional victims. Anyone with information about Murphy is asked to call Detective Henderson of the Laurel Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division at 301-498-0092.

Murphy still in custody on $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 1.