OXFORD – An Alabama high school football coach accused of child molestation and trying to get the victim to lie to authorities investigating the incidents will make an initial court appearance Wednesday in Oxford.
Dwight Bowling is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court before Magistrate S. Allan Alexander.
The 55-year-old Bowling was head football coach for Sulligent, Ala., High School in Lamar County when he was arrested Sept. 17 on charges he repeatedly carried minors from Mississippi to Alabama for sex.
Before moving to Sulligent, Bowling coached high school football for 28 years in Smithville, Miss.
Bowling has been charged in federal court with one count of attempting to bribe a witness and four counts of coercing a minor into having sex.
The alleged acts occurred in 2006 and in August 2010.
Federal prosecutors said that in a recorded telephone conversation between Bowling and a now 19-year-old male shows, Bowling can be heard offering money and pleading to keep quiet or lie about their relationship.
Bowling faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.
Bowling was being held without bond in the Lafayette County jail in Oxford.
He has pleaded not guilty 10 state counts in Monroe and Itawamba counties related to the same incidents. Prosecutors said the charges will be presented to a grand jury.
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