Prosecutor: Springfield Schools protected child molesting coach

Former Parkview High School basketball coach Ronnie White's punishment for molesting his team manager for two years may be limited to 120 days in a sex offender treatment program, but White's crimes may have extended beyond what he pleaded guilty to in Greene County Circuit Court.

During White's sentencing Monday, Greene County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Chapman said there had been numerous complaints about White over a period of years, including another one that took place during the time White was molesting the team manager.

From the Springfield News-Leader account:

Chapman said school records showed that in 1993 — the final year White was abusing the woman who recently came forward to police — a different girl complained that White was behaving inappropriately. Chapman said school administrators made the girl take a polygraph test.

Other complaints of inappropriate behavior by White were made in 2002, 2007 and 2008, Chapman said.

A Springfield Public Schools spokeswoman said the district would not release those complaints or acknowledge that they exist.

The spokeswoman told the newspaper she would have to speak with Superintendent John Jungmann before she could say anything else.

No prison time for Parkview coach who had sex with 14-year-old girl