SEX OFFENDER COP/COACH OF THE DAY

Police Say Ex-Officer Kissed, Fondled 14-Year-Old Girl


By Eric Connor

Former Northwest Middle School baseball coach and former Greenville police officer has been accused of kissing and fondling a 14-year-old student last week in the school parking lot and outside the girl's home.

Columbus Dean "Ken" Kennett IV, 38, 6 Fiddlers Court in Greenville, was charged with two counts of lewd act upon a minor under age 16, according to warrants, which allege the incidents occurred Feb. 7.Kennett turned himself in to authorities Thursday afternoon and was soon set free on $20,000 bond after an arraignment hearing.

He isn't allowed to be around children who aren't family members, and he can't go to Northwest Middle.Kennett had worked at the school since September 2006 as a boys' baseball coach and an aide checking student tests and other paperwork for a school math program, Greenville County school district spokesman Oby Lyles said.

He resigned from his position Feb. 8, the day after the girl's parents raised concerns, Lyles said.School officials were inquiring about the allegations after the girl's parents complained to the school principal, and Kennett resigned before they had a chance to talk with him, Lyles said.Kennett, a former Greenville police officer from 1993 until 2002, sat in handcuffs and remained mostly silent during his bond hearing as the charges were read against him.

Warrants charge that Kennett kissed and fondled the girl while sitting in his SUV, both in the school's parking lot and in the driveway of the girl's home.An incident report alleges the parents pulled up to their driveway at about 5 p.m. and saw their daughter getting out of a white SUV.The vehicle pulled out driving past them, "leaving the property in a hurry," the report states. The girl's mother asked whom the girl had been riding with, and the girl said it was "Coach Kennett," the report states.

{Here's today's law enforcement officer/teacher story all wrapped into one. There were about three new Policeman that were arrested today for sex charges ranging from soliciting a minor to rape. These stories once shocked me but law enforcement officers seem to be the largest growing segment of the RSO community.

This may actually bode well for the movement as people feel less and less secure when it comes the the nice policeman who is there to protect their families and children. Maybe people might actually start being proactive when it comes to their own security and who knows they might actually start doing their own research.}


http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=58512