In Richmond KY, a volunteer basketball coach is waiting his arraignment for a possible assault charge against one of the team’s players. Since December, David Harvey has been a volunteer coach for the Richmond Youth Sports League’s Timberwolves. While assisting his brother-in-law, who is the head coach of the boy’s team ranging from 12-14 years, Harvey was just considered another helpful hand on the team.

However, recently a 14-year-old team member came home from practice with a bruise on his right tricep, which made his parents start asking questions. The juvenile’s father, Roy Peters, alleged, “He choked him…He was all right, but he was upset about it. He had a great big, huge bruise.” The head coach was busy taking care of other matters, and did not witness the altercation.

As it turns out, Harvey was a non-compliant sex offender as well as had served a prison term for attempter murder. In 1995, he was convicted of second degree rape and first degree attempted murder involving the same incident. Upon conviction he was sentenced to a 15 year prison term, but 5 years later he was paroled and released from prison.

The RYSL never screened Harvey before he began volunteering as a coach. RYSL president, Jerry Brandenburg admitted, “We try to screen them…we just don’t have the manpower to do complete checks, which I guess we are going to have to start doing.” David Harvey’s arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28th. He is being charged with fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor charge.

In recent news, Kimberly Brabson, a swim coach at Tampa Preparatory School in Tampa Bay, was accused of secretly videotaping young female girls changing in the locker room.

Two of these girls filed the original suit against Brabson back in January of 2007. They also claimed that the school didn’t thoroughly check Brabson’s past before entrusting him with children and young teens. The lawsuit against the school includes charges of negligence in the hiring of Brabson, failure to ensure student safety, invasion of student privacy, and infliction of emotional distress on the girls.

Tom Carey, a prominent attorney and father of the plaintiffs stated, “In a way this is almost like a theft or robbery of their youth”. The head of Tampa Prep, D. Gordon Macleod, declined to comment on the lawsuit, but did state, “We’re looking at what we do in the school – how we hire, how we evaluate and how we keep an eye on what people are doing”.

Kimberly Brabson faces ten counts of video voyeurism, only a misdemeanor charge. He is married with a 2-year-old child and another on the way.

In Maryland, a gymnastics coach is currently being tried with dozens of counts of child pornography. The coach, Patrick Bogan, taught at Baltimore County Gymnastics club for 11 years before being caught with 49 videotapes of children engaged in sex acts with adults, dozens of CD’s full of child pornography and several pairs of little girls’ underwear in his home.

“Shocked doesn’t even begin to explain it,” said Baltimore County Gymnastics Club Owner Tom Bonomo. “This has been devastating to us and we want our parents to see our face and it from us,” he added.

Bogan has spent his whole life obsessed with young girls. He has an advanced degree in early childhood education and coached girls at the Edgewood Recreation Center in Harford County, MD for 15 years before working for Baltimore County Gymnastics Club. He told FBI investigators that he likens his fascination with child pornography to some people’s fascination with collecting stamps.

Although Baltimore County Gymnastics Club runs extensive reference checks for their coaches, they presently do not have an official policy with performing background checks. Given these current events, the gym should adopt a new background screening policy to ensure that this situation does not occur in the future.