Burnsville / Plea made in youth sports assault

Pioneer Press
Updated: 06/02/2010 12:00:37 AM CDT

A Minneapolis man who punched the commissioner of a Burnsville youth sports association in the face after a sixth-grade basketball game entered a guilty plea Tuesday to first-degree assault. Robin Johnson, 48, entered a guilty plea before Dakota County District Judge Michael Mayer, who scheduled sentencing for Sept. 1.

The punch cracked three of the commissioner's molars, and one had to be extracted, according to charges.

The incident occurred Feb. 13 after a game at Burnsville High School. Johnson, who began yelling at the referees and coaches after the game, was restrained by parents after knocking the commissioner to the ground.

Johnson is being held at the Dakota County Jail in Hastings in connection with an unrelated conviction for domestic abuse.

- Frederick Melo

System for volunteer background checks keeps youth sports safer

LINDA RUSSELL

KY3 News

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Children's baseball and soccer leagues are getting started all over the Ozarks, and boys and girls are spending a lot of time with volunteer coaches. The City of Branson just approved more thorough background checks for the people who coach youth sports. It's a program created right here in Springfield.

The Springfield-Greene County Parks Department has been using a new system that it developed with the National Recreation and Park Association, and it's a system that any park system could use.

Carol Cates was able to cheer on her son, John, and his team on Tuesday night but she feels comfortable that, even when she's not here, he'll be in good hands.

"With our coach here, I feel so secure with him," said Cates.

Parents can feel secure that all volunteers with the Springfield-Greene County Park Board have gone through a background check every year.

"You really want to be secure that your children are going to be taught baseball, but they're also going to be taught by somebody that's respectable," Cates said.

The new system that the parks department started using two years ago makes screenings even more thorough.

"We looked at what kind of system could be enacted throughout the country to really make sure that all volunteers within park systems really have that proper background check, and that we can manage them in a proper way," said Parks Director Jodie Adams.

As part of the National Recreation and Parks Association Board, Adams helped come up with the system. Instead of checking just Missouri, as in the past, volunteers here now go through a nationwide background check.

"Basically, if you have a felony or you have anything with any type of sexual charge, you will not be in the system. We will not allow that around our public at all," Adams said.

Branson has just adopted the same nationwide system, getting results in three to five days, instead of sometimes half way through the season.

"It does cost us $17 for us to do that background check but, you know what, in our minds, the cost, at that point, doesn't matter, because it's the safety of our children," said Adams.

It's peace of mind for moms like Cates.

"So I don't have that concern, and that is such a relief, as a parent, to know your child's getting to have these opportunities, and you don't have to be concerned about what he's going to be exposed to when you're not there," Cates said.

In the time the nationwide system, TLC2, has been up and running, 351 people, a little more than three percent of potential volunteers who were checked, have been disqualified because of their backgrounds.

If you're interested in this system, learn more at the National Recreation and Parks Association Web site.

Adams suggests, if communities don't do that background check, to at least do something, like search the Missouri Case Net website.

Adams says more communities are getting on board and doing background checks for volunteers in their parks systems. In a quick survey of communities surrounding Springfield, we found Ozark, Nixa and Willard do background checks on volunteers, while Rogersville and Republic do not.

Cox: Convicted sex offender worked as youth football coach

TOM GREENWOOD

The Detroit News

A convicted sex offender working as a children's football coach has been arrested after parent's noticed him touching, videotaping and touching player's feet and having them walk barefoot on his back.

Although he was a registered sex offender, Ben Walcott used the alias "Ben Albright" in order to work at youth football camps in Michigan and other states, said Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who today filed charges against Walcott.

According to an Associated Press story, Walcott, 28, worked as a quarterback coach and allegedly tricked young boys into using their bare feet to play with toys while touching and photographing their feet.

After observing his behavior, parents contacted authorities who discovered that Albright was really Walcott, who was convicted of criminal sexual conduct in 2002.

During previous criminal proceedings, Walcott admitted that he received sexual gratification from touching the feet of young boys and from watching as they played with toys with their feet.

"Shocking cases like this remind us how important it is for parents to be closely involved in their children's activities," Cox said.

According to reports, Walcott allegedly told one family he was working with an athletic wear company to secure scholarship money for their son based upon product testing that require careful measure of their son's feet. No such scholarships exist.

Walcott is being charged in Ionia County with one count of working within a student safety zone, which is in violation of the Sex Offenders Registration Act, a one-year felony.

He was charged Monday in the 61st District Court in Kent County with two counts of accosting, enticing or soliciting children for immoral purposes, a 10-year felony.

His bond has been set at $50,000.

Parents who believe Walcott had inappropriate contact with their child should contact the attorney general's office at (313) 456-0180.

Former Project Youth director arrested on sexual assault allegations

By HILARY KINDSCHUH

Joe Ballard, a former youth sports program director and current youth basketball coach, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of molesting a boy over a seven-year period.

The boy, now 19, told Lincoln police on Jan. 28 that he and Ballard became friends nine years ago, said Officer Katie Flood. At the time, Ballard was director of Project Youth, she said.

The teenager told police Ballard subjected him to unwanted sexual contact from 2001 to 2007, Flood said.

Earlier this month, she said, the teenager agreed to wear a wire while he spoke with Ballard, and police arrested Ballard based on evidence collected through recorded conversations.

Ballard was arrested Thursday morning at 11:37 at a local car dealership where he works. He was jailed on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault and first-degree sexual assault of a child, Flood said.

According to court records, Ballard, 42, 2400 L St., No. 4, is being held without bond. He is set to appear in court Monday.

Before Project Youth, Ballard supervised kids and directed a summer softball program for the Salvation Army Community Center for six years. He was fired in 1990 after raising money for new basketball uniforms without the center's knowledge.

At the time, Salvation Army officials said factors other than the fundraising were involved. They banned Ballard from Salvation Army property, saying they believed his presence would be disruptive, and employees there were asked to sign a letter agreeing not to discuss the firing, according to newspaper files.

For 12 years, Project Youth offered free softball, baseball and basketball leagues, as well as tutoring, music, art and other anti-drug activities.

At its height, Project Youth served about 2,000 kids.

Project Youth folded in 2002 because expenses had outgrown donations.

Now, Ballard coaches several youth basketball teams that play under the name Cosmos in local YMCA basketball leagues, said Barbara Bettin, president and CEO of the Lincoln YMCA.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and the young person involved in this investigation," she said in a statement. "The safety of young people and all individuals is our main concern."

Given Ballard's long history with youth sports and after-school programs, police believe there could be additional victims, Flood said. She encouraged anyone with information to contact police at (402) 441-7204.

Out of Bounds: Sexual abuse by coaches violation of athletes, their trust

By Keener A. Tippin II

Your young daughter has a basketball "jones." She absolutely loves the game.
She eats, drinks and sleeps it. She spends hours at a time outside in your driveway dribbling the "rock" and shooting hoops. When she's not playing, she gobbles up anything she can find to read about the sport. No frilly dresses for her, just the replica jersey of her favorite WNBA, NBA or college basketball player. She pleads for you to sign her up to play for a team but you drag your feet.

A coach for a local competitive team sees her playing basketball in the schoolyard during recess and invites her to join his team. You're overjoyed. She doesn't have many friends and her self-esteem isn't the greatest in the world. This will give her a chance to build her confidence, participate in a sport she loves plus perhaps make new friends.

Still, you have reservations.

The coach seems nice enough. Boyish looks. Charming. Says the right things. Appears to have a good knowledge of the game. His teams have done quite well in local, state and national competitions. The list of players who have played for him and gone on to play on the high school team and to receive college scholarships is quite impressive. But what do you really know about him?

You feel compelled to do your homework into the coach's background. And with good reason, too.
Your future All-American's coach may have something other than playbook Xs and Os on his mind. An estimated 15,000 convicted sexual offenders currently coach kids in out-of-school sports, according to Southeastern Security Consultants, a Marietta, Ga.-based company that specializes in background screenings for youth-league coaches.

• Last August a jury in California found a soccer-league commissioner guilty of molesting four boys.
• In October 2002, a soccer coach in New York was convicted of improperly touching an 11-year-old boy and showing him pornographic movies.
• In 1999 a high school football coach in Texas pleaded guilty to charges of sexual assault for a series of sexual encounters with a 16-year-old female student.
• A study by the Houston Chronicle identified 64 Texas high school and middle school coaches who lost their jobs through termination, resignation or reassignment as a result of alleged sexual misconduct involving students or other minors between December 1996 and February 2001.
• A 1998 Education Week search of newspaper archives and computer databases found 244 cases in a six-month period involving allegations ranging from unwanted touching to sexual relationships.

According to Robert Shoop, a Kansas State University expert who has studied sexual harassment and abuse in schools, this abuse isn't just limited to coaches. Band directors, music teachers or anybody who has access to your child in a private environment outside of the school setting could also be a predator as well. Unfortunately, the inordinate amount of time spent practicing for these extracurricular activities gives these abusers much greater access to your child than that by regular teachers.

"If you are in a science classroom and you just see the child for one hour a day, you have less frequent opportunity than if you are the coach and you see the kid everyday for three hours and go on trips and sometimes stay overnight out of town with the child," said Shoop, a professor of educational administration and an educational law expert.

But that's not to say your kids are any safer in school classrooms. Reported incidents of teacher-student sex cases are becoming more and more common. Shoop said that these cases are probably the tip of the iceberg in regards to the number of cases; however, no national studies exist to discuss how prevalent a problem it truly is. Yet, he said the scandal is comparable in magnitude to (but has been overshadowed by) the incidents of alleged abuse committed by priests in the Catholic Church.

"In the last five years, there have been hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cases of children or adults who are reporting things that happened when they were a child," Shoop said. "There were almost no reports of those events during the time that children actually were abused."

"The same thing's happening in schools -- there's a proliferation of reporting right now," he continued. "You can hardly go a day without reading in some community some child is now bringing a case against a teacher for sexual exploitation."

Shoop said there is some belief that reports of abuse are becoming more frequent because of the publicity and the likelihood that they will be believed.

According to Shoop, this sexual exploitation or inappropriate relationship between a coach and athlete can include sexual harassment which comes in the form of either quid pro quo, which means the teacher actually propositions the student and has sexual intercourse, to what's called hostile environment which includes inappropriate touching, sexual comments, sexual language or showing the student sexual materials. Sexual molestation typically means having sexual intercourse with a child and the "child" is defined in each state by specific age.

Shoop said often a power paradigm is involved, with the coach having some sort of authority over the student or athlete, creating an internal conflict within the student and making it difficult to resist that kind of power. Often, fear is also a method used.

"In many of the cases, teachers or coaches have been arrested and it's determined that they have been having sexual intercourse with children for 15 or 20 years and nobody ever reported it before until one child finally comes forward," Shoop said. "Once that child reports it, very frequently a whole series of other people come forward saying 'yeah, he did that to me too and I was afraid,' or 'he did that to me too and he told me if I told anyone he would hurt me or hurt my family' or so on."

Shoop said although the vast majority of abuse cases occur between male teachers or coaches and female student athletes, female teacher to male student and same sex abuse from student to teacher can occur as well. He said female teacher to male student abuse occurs probably 5 percent of the time or less, but receives a lot of publicity disproportionate to the percentage. He cites the highly publicized case of Mary Kay Letourneau and her 13-year-old lover or that of Tanya Hadden, a 33-year-old California high school teacher who went to Las Vegas with a 15-year-old male student.

"Those two cases received national news coverage for weeks where the case of the male having sex with the female student often receives one news story in a local paper and then isn't picked up on a national wire," Shoop said. "But the molestation of female teacher to male student is somewhat different than that of a male teacher typically to a female student."

Shoop said this "double standard" is also apparent in sentencing of offenders as well. He said a male arrested for having sex with a female student is typically sentenced between 10 and 20 years in prison; a female arrested for having sex with a male student often receives probation or significantly less jail time.

"The difference still seems that society has a double standard in that a woman is to be protected from sexual activity but a man is supposed to want, desire and benefit from sexual activity," Shoop said.

According to Shoop, 20 or 30 years ago, if a female teacher was having sex with a male teenage student, chances are the father would visit the teacher and encourage her to put an end to the trysts; others would congratulate the youth's sexual conquest with an older woman. Shoop said still today, society in general doesn_t understand the harm that occurs to a child -- both male and female -- abused by a person in power.

"Even now, there's a recent case where a judge basically said that there wasn't really any harm done," Shoop said. "I think the idea of a man raping a woman is pretty well agreed upon as an egregious event. But a woman raping a boy for some people it's hard to imagine that that actually could occur. And the difficulty is, is because people don't understand that power paradigm and how the teacher has so much power over the child in these molestation cases they almost never occur with physical violence or somebody dragging a person into a room and raping them. It frequently occurs where the relationship develops over a period of months through a cultivating and grooming process so that by the time intercourse actually occurs the child believes that it's in their best interest and doesn't really understand that they are being abused."

Shoop said it is dangerous to stereotype predators because any teacher can be a predator; not one mold fits all. However, one general criteria that most have is they are frequently very popular, charming, gregarious, vivacious people who are often very good teachers and very good coaches.

"That doesn't mean that good coaches molest children," Shoop cautions, "but it means if you are a popular teacher, you are above suspicion and you can get away with a lot of behavior because people just assume you are a good guy or a good woman. Plus, children look up to you and respect you and defer to you and it's very traditional."

While there are no general characteristics among perpetrators, there is a common thread among their victims: Low self-esteem. Victims are often not the star quarterback from the football team or the basketball team's star center, but instead students who lack self-confidence are more vulnerable to flattery and a teacher's positive interaction.

"There is some data that says the perpetrator does not pick a child who rejects their first contact," Shoop said. "In other words the first contact that the teacher makes with that child is usually less overt by putting a hand on them or talking to them in an inappropriate way. If that kid says, 'hey back off' or 'don't do that' or just walks away that teacher will find another victim. But if that child doesn't resist and doesn't stand up for himself, the teacher will escalate that behavior.

"Children who are assertive, who know appropriate behavior and know that no one has the right to touch them or to have a sexual relationship with them, are much more likely to defend themselves," Shoop continued. "Children who lack self confidence are more vulnerable to flattery and a teacher's positive interaction."

Shoop is regularly consulted on issues pertaining to educational law, risk management and sexual harassment prevention. He is the author or co-author of 14 books including "Sexual Exploitation in Schools: How to Spot it and Stop it" and more than 100 journal articles, monographs and book chapters about legal issues. He has also produced award-winning video programs designed to eliminate sexual harassment in public schools and businesses.