Sheriff's Office sends Blackman findings to IRS
MURFREESBORO – The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office's has forwarded information from its investigation into the Blackman High School football booster club to the Internal Revenue Service, according to an office release.
The Sheriff's Office is continuing its investigation into alleged mishandling of funds by the booster club, even as detectives met with and sent their findings to federal officials.
"We still have more interviews to conduct," said Detective Jason Dowdle in the release.
No one has been specifically named as a suspect in the investigation.
The announcement comes weeks after the Sheriff's Office confirmed its investigation in the matter on March 6.
The Sheriff's Office's inquiry into the Blackman allegations came while the Rutherford County Schools system conducted a separate investigation into the allegations of mishandled funds.
Schools spokesman James Evans declined to comment Friday morning on the school system's investigation.
Law enforcement and school system officials were conducting their investigations as former Blackman head coach Philip Shadowens resigned his position as coach and booster club president Wayne Armstrong said the resignation coincided with a school investigation into the football program and booster club.
At the time of his resignation on Feb. 13, Shadowens told The Daily News Journal that he had resigned due to differences "in philosophies" with first-year principal Leisa Justus, who replaced the retired Gail Vick prior to the start of the 2014-15 school year. Justus confirmed at the time that there were differences in philosophies.
Shadowens submitted his resignation on Monday effective April 6 as physical education teacher at Blackman. That came three days after he was named the football coach at William Blount, an East Tennessee school located in Maryville. It marks the first time in 24 years he will not be coaching within the Rutherford County.
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Prep editor Tom Kreager contributed to this report.
Contact Brian Wilson at 615-278-5165 or bwilson@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brianwilson17.