Former Mt. Vernon Mayor Thomas Speaks Truth on Arrest of Coach for Sexual Conduct with Minor
Former Mt. Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas
By Dan Murphy
Former Mt. Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas posted a video about the recent arrest of Mt. Vernon Sports Coach Dwayne Murray. Thomas expressed his concerns as a parent and echoed the sentiment of many Westchester parents after two coaches and one substitute teacher were arrested for possession of child porn or interacting with students under the age of 13.
Thomas posted on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/DJw8X7-x68G/)
“Hi, I’m Richard Thomas. I’m going to speak as a Father, not yet as a former mayor, but as a father. My 12-year-old son plays in that program, the Mount Vernon basketball program, that’s now at the center of an unspeakable tragedy.
“Like many of you, I’m shocked, I’m furious, and I’m grieving because someone we all trusted, someone we trust without kids, Coach Dwayne Murray, reportedly admitted to sexually abusing a child under the age of 13. This man, who encouraged me to enroll my own daughter in his program, is now accused of violating the very trust that parents and children put in him when he was supposed to protect God and uplift.
“And that betrayal, that violation of innocence, it cuts deep. Because it didn’t just happen to one child. It happened to all of us. It happened to the teammates, the parents, the children who look up to him like a big brother or a father figure. And now they’re left feeling confused, ashamed, and scared, wondering if the trust they placed in the adults running the program means anything at all.
“We need space to grieve. We need space to process the pain. We need to talk about it. And I’m inviting everyone —every parent, every caregiver, every faith leader, every coach, every educator —to join a real conversation.
“Because we need to come together, not just in outreach, but for healing. We need to help our kids find the right words to express their feelings while also teaching them how to defend themselves in situations that are obviously beyond their control. I mean, that’s what the parents are supposed to do.
“That’s what the people who run these programs are supposed to do. And we need to make sure that the child who is harmed receives the support and protection they deserve because the scars from abuse last a lifetime.
“We owe it to them to show up, to listen and believe. But it doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t stop there because it’s a part of this story that takes a more troubling turn. “
Thomas then points his thoughts towards the current administration in Mt. Vernon City Hall. “And it involves the actions or inactions of Mayor Sean Patterson Howard. According to Murray himself, in a video he posted on May 8th, it was the Mayor who called him and told him the jig was up. Now ask yourself, why would she call him if she didn’t know who the cryptic text message was about?
“They didn’t refer anybody. She claims that she got a vague text about a child being harmed. But if that text didn’t name names, how did she know it was Murray?
“And if she truly suspected something this serious, this significant, why didn’t she call the police there under her command? That’s what any leader or parent would do.
“You go to the police. Instead, she claimed she went to the Westchester DA. But the Westchester DA, in her official statement, suggests otherwise.
“This inconsistency raises serious red flags, But it doesn’t stop there. It gets much worse. Murray’s fiancé works for the administration of the Mount Vernon Police Department. She’s also running for school board, which is just absurd.
“But that alone raises questions about potential interference or influence. But it doesn’t stop there.
“Murray himself also hired the Mayor’s husband to photograph every single child in the basketball program. Let that sink in: a man six foot four, virtually probably 300 pounds, now accused of sexually abusing a child under the age of 13 years old with close ties to the Mayor who was entrusted with photographing all of our children in the program.
“What happened to the photos? Where are the photos? We need to know. As parents, this doesn’t just look bad. It feels like a coverup.
“When I was Mayor, we made protecting our children a top priority. I put school resource officers into the schools, trained and trusted people that wanted to be there to build relationships with everyone. Because we understand how important it is to establish a relationship with authority in the face of active shooters and the pressures of social media, it really matters.
“But that program was dismantled. It was eradicated by Mayor Sean Patterson. It wasn’t a money problem. It was a priority problem for her.
“And today, when you look at dismissal, going down the business district in downtown Mount Vernon, it a disaster. You got kids fighting and McDonald’s shutting down because kids are using it as a space to fight—meanwhile, the police department’s right across the street.
“The decision to remove that program put our community and our kids in danger, plain and simple. And even now, seeing that the officers that would have been in there are not there place our kids in even more danger.
“But what we also did that has not been continued, which really makes me upset, is we monitored for registered sex offenders every week, and we made clear to them that we were watching because we wanted to ensure that they knew that we were going to protect our kids and our community.
“That’s leadership. That’s prevention. But under this administration, we’ve seen denial. We’ve seen disconnection and possibly deception.
“So I’m calling on the Westchester DA to not only pursue justice in this case, the child, but also fully investigate how the Mayor handled the situation. Because there are too many inconsistencies and too many red flags raised. Mount Vernon deserves the truth and deserves answers, not spin.
“The victim deserves protection, not politics, and our children deserve a lot better than this, not broken trust. The time to act is now, and I can’t thank you enough for watching this video and sharing this video, but more importantly, I hope you stand with me to not only push for accountability but to achieve healing. Thank you,” said Thomas.
