Felony charge filed against coach

A football coach has an active warrant for his arrest after an incident at Milan on September 6. Leon A. Morales, 50, of Cincinnati, OH, was at the Milan School football fields when he allegedly put his hands on a 10-year-old player, shoving him to the ground. He was coaching for a team opposing Milan.

According to a Probable Cause Affidavit filed September 22 in Ripley County, after Morales shoved the boy, he then picked him up using his facemask. The coach (Morales) was escorted off the field by a referee and another coach.

Ripley County Communications had received two calls from people who were at the football field, requesting extra police patrol in the area. When Lt. Adam Hunger arrived to check out the situation, he said he spoke with the parents of the child who had been battered. He also spoke with Dennis Watson, who is the president of the league there at Milan. A video was produced showing Morales in action.

According to court records, local police have attempted to contact a phone number given to them for Morales but were not successful in reaching him. “The phone went straight to voicemail, where I left a message,” stated Lt. Adam Hunger in the Probable Cause. He called the number provided to him several times, leaving messages. The president from the league that Morales is a coach for told police he (Morales) would be banned from coaching and the phone number Lt. Hunger had was indeed the one for Morales.

Morales has been charged with Battery of a Child, which is a Level 6 Felony.

Editor’s Note: Those with criminal charges against them are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.