GREENVILLE – A longtime high school football coach from Mississippi and Alabama has pleaded guilty to federal charges in a molestation case involving teenage boys.
Dwight Bowling appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Greenville.
Court records show the 56-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of taking a minor across state lines, from Mississippi to Alabama, for sex. He pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction for trying to get someone else to lie to investigators.
A sentencing date was not immediately set.
Bowling faces up to 20 years in prison on the obstruction count and 10 years to life in prison for each of the two counts of molestation.
Bowling coached 28 years at Smithville High School in Monroe County, Miss., before retiring and taking a similar job at Sulligent High in Sulligent, Ala.
He was the coach for the Alabama school when he was arrested last September in Mississippi, on his way home from a football game. Authorities said a 13-year-old boy was with Bowling at the time of his arrest, and accused the coach of improper touching.
Prosecutors said last week in a court filing that they were prepared to present numerous witnesses in the case, including four alleged victims. The trial had been scheduled to begin May 9.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported that Bowling on Wednesday wore yellow jail scrubs and arrived in the Greenville courtroom in leg shackles and handcuffs. He has been held in the Lafayette County, Miss., jail for most of the time since his arrest.
U.S. District Judge Allen Pepper asked Bowling: “Did you in fact commit those acts they said you did?”
Bowling responded: “Yes, your honor.”
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