By Heather Grabin
Editor | Murfreesboro Diamond
MURFREESBORO—After almost a year of investigation, a formal felony charge has been filed against 31-year-old Neil Maurice Kemp III of Amity and there may be the possibility of charges being filed against two other men.
A charge of fourth degree sexual assault, a Class D felony with punishment being imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Corrections for a term no more than six years, and/or a fine not to exceed $10,000 if convicted, was filed by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Erin Hunter for the Ninth West Judicial Circuit in the Pike County Circuit Clerk’s office on Tuesday, April 5, 2016.
Kemp was booked into the Pike County Detention Facility on Wednesday, May 20, 2015 for alleged internet stalking of a child and fourth degree sexual assault.
His first court appearance in Pike County Circuit Court was held May 29, 2015 and his bond was set at $35,000 by Ninth West Judicial Circuit Judge Charles Yeargan.
According to the affidavit of arrest, on May 3, 2015 the Arkansas State Police Child Abuse Hotline received a call alleging that an adult identified as Neil Kemp had engaged in sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old juvenile female that was allegedly discovered through messages on the juvenile’s phone.
The juvenile’s phone was voluntarily released on May 4, 2015 to the Pike County Sheriff’s Department along with a signed consent to search form for the phone’s contents.
According to reports, the initial search of the phone revealed a conversation between the alleged juvenile victim and the alleged offender, Neil Kemp. The text conversation was reviewed and photographed for case file purposes.
The report states that conversations between the two showed where Kemp acknowledged the juvenile to be underage; requests and comments on illicit pictures of the juvenile victim; and requests and confirmations of sexual contact.
The conversations also showed very lewd and suggestive comments to the alleged juvenile and comments such as “You’re growing up haha.”
The report further stated that messages were found showing lewd and suggestive discussions between Kemp and the alleged victim about another man.
The juvenile was interviewed at the Cooper Anthony Mercy Child Advocate Center in Hot Springs on May 6, 2015. The interview was video and audio recorded and revealed more than just one alleged sexual offender.
The report says the juvenile disclosed sexual contact with three adult men over a several month period of time on multiple occasions and in various locations.
The juvenile named two men and Neil Kemp. The alleged victim said that all three of the men knew each other and were in their thirties.
For the first crime, the juvenile claimed to have sexual contact with someone close to her family and that he would text and ask her to watch his children, but she did not believe the children lived with him, but were visiting him. The juvenile said that he had always had her phone number because she was always around his family and that she knew them from racing. She said that the man lived in Murfreesboro and would always be around when she was asked to babysit. She claimed nothing occurred around the children other than he would comment things such as “hey cutie” and “you look pretty today.”
The juvenile claimed that the man began asking her “to do stuff with him” and sent text messages that included sexual invitations, but that she replied she was not ready for that. The alleged victim said she finally gave in around Christmas of 2014 and met the man at the race shop in Nashville that has a house nearby that no one lives in. The juvenile said that the location was the man’s idea, but that the race shop is kept locked, so she guessed he had a key to it.
The juvenile claimed that she “didn’t want to do it, but she was tired of the begging.” After the encounter she claimed they both went their separate ways.
The juvenile said that the next sexual encounter was with a relative to the first man. She said that he was going through a break-up, and because “he is like another uncle to her, and she messaged saying she hoped he got through it.” She claimed that she began texting him and it turned into more and they began to “do stuff.”
She claimed that she and he would always be at another race friend’s home and the alleged victim said that he had no idea about her encounter with his brother.
The alleged victim said that she discussed her age and how they couldn’t be caught. She said that he talked about waiting until she was older, but the first assilaint had never mentioned waiting.
The victim said that she talked about waiting until she was older, and he had told her “yeah, but he still loved her.” She said that the second man and his girlfriend broke up around January 2015, and that she (the alleged victim) ended the encounters with the first man in April of 2015. The victim said she told him to find someone else because she could not do it anymore because of her age.
The alleged victim said that he “didn’t take it very well and was really heartbroken” and that she knew that from text messages she received. She also claimed that he knew she was worried about being pregnant, because protection wasn’t used.
The juvenile said that she did not recall how many sexual encounters she had with the second man, but thought it to be less than four or five times. She claimed the pair would meet somewhere and the encounters occurred in his truck, sometimes at his deer camp and once a race shop. She said that sometimes when he asked her to engage in sexual activities she told him no and that he would say “okay, maybe next time.”
The third and most recent sexual encounter allegedly occurred between her and Neil Kemp just a few days before the initial report was filed in May of 2015.
The alleged victim claimed that around Thanksgiving of 2014 she was going through her family history and discovered two guys that had the last name of Kemp. She said that she messaged him on Twitter and asked if they were related. She said that Neil Kemp replied saying, “Sorry you couldn’t be cousins with the champion.”
The juvenile said that Kemp asked her to text him and she did. She said the situation turned into one similar to the one with the second man. She claimed that she and Kemp would meet at the race track and do stuff. She said that he would tell her to meet him and she told him she couldn’t every day because her mom would take her car away.
She said that Kemp told her he wanted to see her and asked her to meet him at his house. She said that her family was at a visitation service and she told them she was going to Nashville, but instead met Kemp at his home.
The juvenile said that her mother went through her phone and read her messages. After reading the messages her mother called her into her office and “went off on her for lying to her.” The juvenile said that she usually deleted and that she had told all three of them that she didn’t want to get them into trouble. She said that her mother told her they could be involved with other people and that she did not think that was right.
The alleged victim said that her mother had read the text from Kemp about the day they met and that she had physical therapy and she had to meet him later. She also said that there were inappropriate pictures of her in the text.
The juvenile told that she had transmitted pornographic images to Kemp and the second man at their request, but had not sent any to the first man despite his numerous requests. She further stated that all sexual contact with the three adult men was arranged by their request through online and text messaging.
The juvenile said she thought the second man had sent her pictures. At least one was inappropriate and that one time he had sent a picture of his outfit and another of his children.
The alleged victim said that she told Kemp about the first man and they had a huge fight because of it. She said that Kemp didn’t like him and she knew that. She also said that Neil was the only one that knew about the first man.
Pike County Detective Sergeant Clark Kinzler interviewed the juvenile on May 20, 2015. The alleged victim clarified that the sexual solicitation committed by the first two men initially began through Facebook and moved to text messaging.
She said the sexual solicitation committed by Neil Kemp began on Twitter and moved to text messaging.
When asked how the alleged offenders knew her age, the alleged victim said that she told them before any of the sexual encounters occurred. She also said that all sexual contact meetings were arranged with her through media devices.
The juvenile said that there was only the one occurrence with first man sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2014 at the race shop in Nashville and that it was a “result of his constant enticement through messages for sex while she was in Pike County, so she drove over there and met him.”
She said that the sexual contact between her and the second man occurred over a period of months with the last occurrence happening in his truck at his deer camp off the road by the Mac Cooley Store.
The alleged victim confirmed the last sexual contact between her and Neil Kemp was right before her mother discovered the text messages on her phone, which records show to be April 29, 2015, at Kemp’s residence in Amity in his bedroom.
