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A registered sex offender was jailed in Caldwell County this week after authorities said they discovered he was helping coach a youth baseball team.
The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said investigators received an anonymous tip that Dirk Walker Monseur Jr., 34, was assisting a Granite Falls Parks and Recreation team of 6- to 8-year-olds.
Monseur, of Granite Falls, was arrested Monday and charged with violating state sex offender laws, a felony.
Capt. Brian Bennett said investigators do not believe Monseur committed any crimes against children on the team.
But N.C. law prohibits registered sex offenders from being on the premises of any place intended for the use, care or supervision of minors. They’re also prohibited from being at any place where minors gather for regularly scheduled educational, recreational or social programs.
Bennett said adults with ties to the Granite Falls team often take turns helping out. A woman in a relationship with Monseur has children on the team, he said.
Tim Cooke, the recreation director of Granite Falls Parks and Recreation, said Wednesday that the staff had just learned of the issue and planned to have a meeting. Town Manager Jerry Church said Monseur was not the team’s coach, but a parent volunteer.
“The safety of our children is of the utmost importance,” Church said, adding that town officials appreciated the “swift and appropriate” action of the Sheriff’s Office.
A search of court records shows Monseur was convicted in 2002 in Florida of a sex act on or in the presence of a child younger than age 16. Then, in 2003, he was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender. He spent about 2 ½ years in a Florida prison.
As a result, he’s currently registered as a sex offender in North Carolina.
Monseur was being held under a $20,000 bond in Caldwell County jail, where he remained Wednesday.
