State police: No grounds to charge ex-N. Kingstown High coach Kenyon
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — The Rhode Island State Police have found no grounds to file criminal charges against former North Kingstown High School athletic director and football coach Keith Kenyon.
Kenyon resigned on Aug. 25, 2009, as the school administration received preliminary results of an audit into alleged spending abuses. The audit was released publicly on Sept. 8, 2009.
In November 2009 the North Kingstown School Committee voted to forward the results of the audit, conducted by the Warwick accounting firm Cayer Caccia, to the state police and the Rhode Island attorney general’s office.
In a letter sent to Mary Ann Carroll, attorney for the school committee, and obtained by The Journal Thursday, the Financial Crimes Unit of the state police said the information in the report was inadequate to form an opinion on the existence of criminal improprieties.
“As a result, we conducted an investigation into the allegations contained in the report and found no probable cause to proceed with a criminal charge,” the letter read. The letter said Assistant Attorney General J. Patrick Youngs III concurred with the decision.
Kenyon has since found a job as athletic director and head football coach at Nauset Regional High School in North Eastham, Mass.
Richard Welch, chairman of the North Kingstown School Committee, said the district will probably not pursue the matter any further.
“We did what we needed to do as elected officials to protect the students and the taxpayers,” he said. “If the state police and the attorney general’s office didn’t feel there was adequate information to continue, that’s their responsibility.”