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Convicted sex offender accused of being near kids
Arrested in Mount Airy, he posts $50,000 bond, is to be in court July 15
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Published: June 19, 2009
MOUNT AIRY - A former basketball coach who spent five years in prison as a convicted sex offender was arrested Tuesday after he was accused of violating the law that prohibits sex offenders from being near children.
Kemp Douglas Phillips, 40, of 230 Laurel Lane in Mount Airy was charged with unlawfully being on premises with minors as a registered sex offender, said Lt. Jim Armbrister of the Mount Airy Police Department. Phillips was arrested at his home.
Several residents told police that Phillips was going to ProHealth, a fitness and rehabilitation center on North Pointe Boulevard in Mount Airy.
The center has a nursery and several children's programs, Armbrister said.
Phillips could not be reached for comment.
A woman who answered the phone at the fitness club declined to comment.
State law prohibits registered sex offenders from being on the premises of "any place intended for the use, care or supervision of minors," including schools, children's museums, child-care centers, nurseries and playgrounds.
Prosecutors said that Phillips, a former boys' basketball coach at Mount Airy High School, was involved with underage girls at the school from 2001 to 2003. Two other coaches at the school also were charged in the case.
Phillips pleaded guilty in Surry Superior Court in 2003 to three counts of statutory rape, three counts of sex offense with a student and five counts of taking indecent liberties with a student.
A judge sentenced him to serve four to five years in prison and ordered Phillips to be put on probation for four years after Phillips was released.
Phillips was released in January, state correction records show.
Armbrister said that Mount Airy police were obligated to enforce the law after they learned that Phillips had been accused of going to the fitness center.
"If we had neglected to act on it and just notified to the facility, and something happened, can you imagine the repercussions to law enforcement if we had that knowledge and not acted on it," Armbrister said.
Phillips was released from the Surry County Jail in Dobson after he posted a $50,000 bond.
He is scheduled to appear in court July 15.
■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
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