Bonita man sentenced to sex offender probation

Bonita Springs resident Philip D. Moorehead, 21, a former member of the Lee County Sheriff's Explorers Post, was sentenced to 10 years of sex offender probation in Lee County Circuit Court this afternoon.

Moorehead was arrested in August 2004 and charged with three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation. He pleaded no contest last month and faced a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison.

Investigators said Moorehead offered Pokemon cards and money in exchange for allowing him to rub his penis against their legs and buttocks. Moorehead was a juvenile at the time of the incidents, investigators said.

Sheriff's and court records say Moorehead molested one child twice, once in 2000 and once in 2002, as well as another child. Both children were between 9 and 11 years old at the time. They did not report the encounters immediately.

Sheriff's reports say Moorehead joined the Explorers Unit in June 2002, after the first incident occurred. Reports say Moorehead was a member of the unit at the time of the second incident, though it was not related to or during any Explorer activities. The unit educates teens about a possible career in law enforcement and offers them hands-on training, such as assisting deputies in sobriety checkpoints.

Among the conditions of his probation, Moorehead can have no unsupervised contact with children, he cannot have a job in which he deals with children, he must register twice a year for the next 10 years as a sex offender and he cannot be outside his home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The judge withheld adjudication, which means Moorehead will not have a felony record if he completes the probation successfully. He may apply to have the sex offender designation removed from his name in 30 years.