39-year-old Francis Murphy, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., pleaded guilty Tuesday to unlawful contact and corruption of a minor. He faces up to 14 years behind bars.
Murphy was arrested in April after an 11th grade student complained to authorities that Murphy was sending him sexually suggestive messages on Facebook. The teen said Murphy recruited him at a football camp when he was in 9th grade to attend Archbishop Carroll in Radnor, Pa.
The victim's family could not afford the tuition and the boy ended up leaving the school to attend Upper Merion High School. That's when, the boy said, the alleged sexual conversations began.
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said the boy sent Murphy a message on Facebook asking him if he could help him with getting his cleats out of his locker. Murphy said he would. And then, authorities say, Murphy quickly turned the subject into a sexual talk.
The conversations allegedly included Murphy offering to provide gifts to the boy in exchange for sexual favors. Murphy told him many times that this would have to be kept between the two of them, the D.A. said.
"The coach suggested he could be this boy's 'Sugar Daddy,'" Ferman said.
The boy eventually told his mother, and she contacted the police.
Authorities then set up a sting on Facebook and arranged a meeting on Friday April 15th at an ice cream shop in Bridgeport, Montgomery County, where Murphy was arrested.
No sentencing date has been set. Murphy remains free on $250,000 bail.
