Posts Tagged ‘coach criminal record’

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Assistant Coach (and convicted felon) Arrested on Marijuana Charges

Thursday, December 11th, 2008

Arnold Martinez, an assistant coach at Greeley West High School in Colorado, was arrested this week on several marijuana charges.

Martinez, along with two other men who were arrested last month, allegedly ran a multi-million dollar marijuana operation. Law enforcement officials stated that the operation could have raked in more than $3 million.

Martinez was hired by the Greeley-Evans School District 6 in 2006. He was convicted of a felony possiession of marijuana in 1994. School officials knew of his felony conviction and yet still hired him as an assistant wresting coach “after an extensive review and interview.”

Sheriff’s deputies found 1,300 marijuana plants on Martinez’s property. He also had a renter who was also arrested for being part of this operation. Court documents showed that Martinez was receiving $4,320 per month in rent from his tenant. Harvesting the marijuana every two months and shipping mainly to California brought in $3.2 million.

Martinez was released Tuesday on a $25,000 bond. The charges he is facing include: cultivation of marijuana; distribution of marijuana; and possession of more than 100 pounds of marijuana.

A spokesman for the school district commented that they are allowed to hire people with felony convictions in non-teaching roles and that Martinez is one of two people who they hired with a known criminal record.

It may be prudent for the school to review this policy. Keeping our children safe and away from this type of influence should be a top priority. What do you think?

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Another Volunteer Coach Found to be Registered Sex Offender

Friday, November 21st, 2008

If ever an argument was needed in support of expanding the scope of criminal background checks, this story would be it.

Edward Yancey, a registered sex-offender has been working as a volunteer youth basketball coach for Long Beach, Mississippi’s city recreation program.

The program did run a criminal background check on Yancey, but only in his county of residence. The problem with that is Yancey moved to the area last month and was told to register his new address with the Department of Public Safety. They gave him 10 days to comply, but he failed to follow through.

Had the city’s recreation program expanded their criminal background check to include a nationwide sex offender search, they would have discovered that Yancey is a registered sex offender with a classification of “violent.”

Furthermore, conducting a federal criminal search at his previous address would have provided them with the details of his conviction leading to the sex offender status. Yancey was convicted in 1998 of using a computer to send sexually explicit materials. He was given 3 years of probation, mental counseling and has to register as a sex offender.

Yancey now faces two charges: failing to register as a sex offender and allegedly molesting a 10-year old boy. His bond is set at $1 million.

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PIAA Being Asked to Background Check Athletic Officials

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

As a result of an investigation published by the Pittsburg Post-Gazette Saturday, the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) is asking its parent, Pennyslvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA), to complete background checks on its 13,700 officials beginning in January.

The Post-Gazette’s investigation revealed dozens of past and present officials registered with the PIAA who possess criminal convictions including child molestation, possession of child pornography, gun crimes, drug offenses and more.

According to a statement released on their website in response to the investigation, the PIAA has taken other measures rather than conducting background checks to insure the safety of the children involved in their sporting events. Aside from requiring sports officials to reveal prior criminal convictions on their applications, they also rely on other people in the organization to let them know who has been charged and convicted, or pled guilty to crimes. They also have adopted policies to prevent unsupervised contact between students and sports officials.

The PIAA also cites the cost of doing background checks as a major factor to why they have not enacted the policy thus far. They fear losing officials if they must raise the price of dues. Dues average around $40.00 per official and they anticipate the background checks to cost $50.00, thus doubling the price for their officials. The PIAA claims they could not afford paying for the background checks on their own.

Additionally, the PIAA’s statement included the following:

“To summarize, this issue is one that has been debated by PIAA for several years now. While criminal background checks may be a “feel good” means of taking some action to protect student-athletes, it is not the only, and is certainly not even the best, means available to provide protection. PIAA has taken a different approach, but with (so far) very good results. Perhaps, though, after further assessment of benefits and costs ofdoing so, we will also require criminal background checks. Stay tuned for future developments.”

One hopes that they will see the benefits to conducting background checks outweigh any costs involved when it comes to the welfare of our children.

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