Press Conference Regarding Arrest and Prosecution of Dwayne Murray
A longtime Mount Vernon youth basketball coach was charged with a sex crime involving a minor after the victim’s phone yielded evidence of abuse and the coach made admissions to investigators, Westchester District Attorney Susan Cacace said.
At a press conference Thursday, May 15, Cacace provided additional details regarding the arrest the day before of Dwayne Murray, who was arraigned in City Court on a felony charge of first-degree course of sexual conduct of a child.
“There is no crime I take more seriously than offenses committed against children, especially offenses of a sexual nature,” she said.
Murray, 62, is executive director of the Mount Vernon Junior Knights youth basketball program and this past year coached its 7th and 8th grade girls team. He is a former longtime assistant coach of Mount Vernon High School’s highly regarded boys basketball team.
Cacace declined to say whether the alleged abuse involved a player. Murray is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with a child younger than 13 on at least two occasions between Oct. 1, 2023, and March 1, 2024. Neither the age nor gender of the victim has been made public.
DA Susan Cacace says Dwayne Murray ‘made admissions’
Cacace said the investigation began April 12 after a tip to her office and investigators immediately began interviewing witnesses and analyzing the victim’s electronic devices.
“A search of these devices revealed that the defendant had exchanged text messages with the victim in which he discussed performing oral sex on the victim,” Cacace said.
Investigators seized two cell phones from Murray pursuant to a search warrant and are analyzing them, Cacace said.
When allegations of improper behavior by Murray began circulating in late April, he posted a video on Facebook denying any wrongdoing. He insisted the allegations were part of a smear campaign by supporters of the incumbent slate of Mount Vernon school board candidates. He was supporting their opponents.
He also said he would cooperate fully with the District Attorney’s Office and he consented to an interview by investigators.
During the interview Murray “made admissions to his participation in this crime,” Cacace said. She would not elaborate.
Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard: ‘I ask for prayers and support’ for victim’s family
The investigation was well underway when Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard sent the DA’s Office a copy of a text she received in late April from Gregory Bonaparte, whose wife is the school board president and is running for re-election. In it Bonaparte did not name Murray but cited an allegation he’d learned of that a “middle aged close associate of (the mayor’s)” had inappropriate contact with an 8th-grader.
Patterson-Howard explained that she thought the message was vague and politically motivated but that she did not hesitate to reach out to law enforcement because “allegations of this nature must always be treated with urgency and care.”
“I want to be clear; I treat all allegations of sexual abuse with the gravity they deserve and have followed all proper protocols to allow justice to take its full and fair course,” the mayor said in a statement. “As a mother in this community, I ask for prayers and support to the family as they deal with this devastating experience.”
Bonaparte said the mayor also reached out to Murray, even though he had not been identified by name in the text. A spokesman for the mayor did not respond to questions seeking to confirm whether she did that and how she knew Bonaparte was referring to Murray.
Murray was ordered held without bail at the county jail and is due back in City Court on June 4. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. A lawyer who represented him in court could not be reached for comment.
Cacace said additional charges could be forthcoming and said she hoped there were no other victims.
She urged anyone with information about the case to call the DA’s Office at 914-995-TIPS (8477).
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: DA: Phone evidence, admissions led to sex charge against Mount Vernon youth hoops coach
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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