September 11, 2015
Mugshot/for PhillyVoice
Leon Watson was sentenced to 114 to 228 years in prison for sexually assaulting five boys and a disabled adult.
Former youth football coach Leon Watson was sentenced to 114 to 228 years in prison for sexually assaulting five boys ages 8 through 10 and a 21-year-old disabled man, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced Friday.
Watson, 26, was convicted earlier this year on 16 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault indecent assault and related offenses. He was sentenced by Judge Timika Lane, who deemed the sentence necessary because Watson "demonstrated that he cannot live within the confines of a civilized society."
Watson met the boys through a North Philadelphia youth football team he formed.
"When Leon Watson created Little Vicks, his N. Philadelphia youth football team, and recruited children from the neighborhood, he was not trying to be a mentor and coach," Williams said in a statement. "He was creating a scheme to become a sexual predator."
The Department of Human Services received an anonymous tip on Nov. 10, 2013, alleging children living in Watson's home were being sexually abused. Watson told DHS investigators that only a 14-year-old and a 10-year-old were in his home. He ordered them to provide fake names and birth dates.
But a search of his home, conducted by Philadelphia Police, found two other children — an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old — hidden upstairs.
All five children and the adult, who helped the team, told investigators Watson had been sexually abusing them for months. They also said he forced them to beg for money outside Philadelphia sporting venues for up to 12 hours a day.
