Ex-DPS coach/aide indicted in sexual battery on student in court today

UPDATE @ 7:15 a.m. (8/10)

A former Dayton Public Schools coach and teacher’s aide indicted last month for sexual battery against a student is scheduled to be in court today.

Donte D. Murphy, 28, of Englewood, has been charged with three counts of sexual battery, a third-degree felony.

INITIAL REPORT (7/28)

A former Dayton Public Schools coach and teacher’s aide was indicted this week for sexual battery against a student.

Donte D. Murphy, 28, of Englewood, is charged with three counts of sexual battery, a third-degree felony, according to a Montgomery County grand jury report. County Prosecutor’s spokesman Greg Flannagan said there was one victim in the case, a female student who had already turned 18.

Court records show Murphy was arrested and booked into Montgomery County Jail on Thursday morning. Flannagan said Murphy pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday, with bond set at $20,000. His next court date is listed as Aug. 10.

Dayton Police records show a sexual assault complaint was filed May 5 at Ponitz Career Technology Center by an 18-year-old female student, citing incidents that occurred in February and on May 1.

A letter in Murphy’s personnel file accuses him of going onto school grounds in early May, after he was fired, leading DPS’ security director to trespass Murphy from all district property.

Murphy served as head boys track coach at Ponitz from 2012 until March 2016. He was hired as a classroom aide in August 2014, five months after his arrest on a solicitation charge stemming from an incident on Wayne Avenue in Dayton.

He was fired in April 2016 from his job as a teacher’s aide at Ponitz for not having valid certifications from the state.

Ohio Department of Education officials said this spring that Murphy didn’t have a valid aide permit, and his pupil activity permit for coaching appeared to be falsified. ODE forwarded that information to the Montgomery County prosecutor and the auditor of state.

Prosecutor’s officials said Thursday that the falsification issue is a separate on-going investigation.

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