Ex-Beaufort County teacher who molested 9 boys released from jail
Philip Underwood-Sheppard, 57, has moved to Brevard, N.C., following his release Sept. 17 from the Beaufort County Detention Center, according to his entry in the S.C. Sex Offender Registry.
He was released from prison Aug. 28 after serving 13 years of a 25-year sentence and taken to the county jail to await a decision on whether he would be committed to the predator program.
Two mental evaluations determined he did not qualify for the program, according to the S.C. Attorney General's Office. One of the evaluations was ordered by the courts, and the attorney general then sought a second opinion, according to Mark Powell, attorney general spokesman.
After the evaluations came back, Powell said, "the state no longer had a case."
"The Attorney General's Office followed the law and pursued the matter as far as we could through the legal process," he added.
The case was then dismissed by a Circuit Court judge after Underwood-Sheppard's lawyer filed a motion for summary judgment.
To qualify for the predator program, which requires a civil commitment process, a psychiatric evaluation must conclude he has a "mental abnormality" or "personality disorder" that would make him likely to commit a sexual offense, and that he lacks control and would likely reoffend if he were not confined, Powell said. The evaluations are sealed from the public.
Underwood-Sheppard has registered with North Carolina's sex offender registry. He is eligible to apply for removal from that state's registry after 10 years; otherwise, he remains on it for 30 years, according to his registration entry.
Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner said Underwood-Sheppard would have to update his sex-offender registration in North Carolina twice a year and notify authorities if he moves. The same registration requirements would apply if he lives in South Carolina.
Underwood-Sheppard was arrested in 2002 after a worker at the Boys & Girls Club after-school program became suspicious and peeked in the music teacher's room at Coosa Elementary School on Lady's Island and saw him naked from the waist down. Two boys, ages 7 and 8, were in the room with him and there had been inappropriate physical contact.
Seven other boys between the ages of 6 and 13 later came forward to report similar crimes to the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office.
Underwood-Sheppard had been a teacher in the school district for 17 years, also having worked at Davis and Broad River elementary schools and Robert Smalls Middle School.
He was sentenced to 25 years on April 24, 2003, after pleading guilty to nine counts of indecent exposure, seven counts of performing a lewd act on a child and one count of assault and battery high and aggravated. Due to earning credit for good behavior and working jobs in prison, he became eligible for early release after 13 years in prison.
Lawsuits against the Beaufort County School District and the Boys & Girls Clubs followed his guilty plea. The clubs paid out $2.4 million. The district paid about $5.2 million, with its liability insurance paying about half of that amount.
Aug. 28, 2015 Man who molested Beaufort County children may be released after serving half of 25-year prison sentence | READ
This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 9:04 AM with the headline "Ex-Beaufort County teacher who molested 9 boys released from jail."