Clish was heading to trial on October 27th on four felony and one misdemeanor sexual abuse charges.

He was the coach for the Appleton Rebels Youth Baseball team in Appleton, Wisconsin. The charges, however, did not involve any of the players. Clish allegedly gave a 17-year old boy rum and then assaulted him.

Once those charges were filed, other allegations appeared including a sex charge in 1983 that involved a 14-year old. Clish was never convicted. In addition, another man came forward and accused Clish of assaulting him in 1977 and 1978 when the man was 13 and 14-years old. He was a batboy for the team Clish coached.

Unfortunately, we will never know now if Clish was innocent or guilty of the crimes against him. However, this incident has prompted the Appleton Rebels Little League to examine running background checks. Prior to now, they have not background checked their coaches. One hopes that the introduction of background checks in the league will keep unfortunate incidents, like this one, from occurring.

I talked this over with a coworker. What consequences are in place to keep a registered sex offender from applying to be a coach? None. In the event that a sports organization actually runs a background check, discovers that a prospective employee has a criminal record (which was undisclosed on an application) and doesn’t hire the person, there is nothing stopping that person from just going down the road and applying for another coaching position, possibly in an organization which doesn’t perform background checks.

In most areas, it is illegal for a sex offender to live within a certain vicinity of a school or park, and it’s actually a felony. Sex offenders must also make sure they register in the state or area of residence, or they face legal consequences. So, how about imposing legal consequences on a registered sex offender who knowingly applies for a job involving children and does not disclose their past?

In Greensboro, North Carolina, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department recently adopted a formal background check process, but it’s only on randomly selected coaches. The organization cited the cost (about $14.00 per person) as the reason they cannot run background checks on all of their coaches. Sadly, all it will take is one coach who slips through the cracks and harms a child to make this organization realize that it’s worth the price to background check everyone. In the unfortunate event that something does go wrong, the Parks and Recreation Department will probably pay a lot more money than if they had conducted background checks on all of their employees.

However, placing legal consequences on sex offenders who knowingly apply for youth coaching jobs just might be part of the answer in helping protect our children.

What do you think?

Strittmatter allegedly began text messaging the student in May and as time progressed, the messages became more sexual in nature. According to the affidavit, some of the messages included:

“I’m lying here in bed can’t stop thinking of you. I need you.”

“I wish I could hold you now. I have to refrain from the ultimate passion with you but I don’t think I can.”

“I miss you. I need you. I wish you were here.”

The student’s father noticed the text messages at a softball game when his daughter handed him her phone. He then gave the phone to his son, who showed him one of the messages.

According to the arrest report, the girl’s father approached Strittmatter’s wife regarding the matter, but she begged him not to destroy their family. The father also allegedly spoke with Strittmatter who admitted to having a problem.

Strittmatter was officially charged with Unlawful Contact with a Minor, Corruption of Minors and Harrassment & Stalking. He was released on a $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on August 12, 2008.

He resigned his position as coach via email on June 13, 2008.

The Indiana Area School District Superintendent has declined to comment on the charges, stating that it is a police matter, but that the school district is cooperating with the investigation. It was also noted that Strittmatter was only an assistant varsity coach and not a teacher in their schools.

Michael Rolfes, a referee for USA Volleyball with over 20 years of experience, and owner of Official Investigations & Security Services in Cincinnati, Ohio, noted that USA Volleyball does a county level criminal background check by name and social security number. Rolfes said that USA Volleyball also performs “a national sex offender search on every referee who is hired to interact with children.”

Lawmakers in Ohio have suggested that the individual school districts would benefit from a coaching fundamentals course that would be presented online. State officials hope to require and implement background checks for all people in direct contact with children by this fall.

Rolfes explained that youth coaches in Ohio are required to be fingerprinted through the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation if they have resided in Ohio for five years. Anyone residing outside of Ohio during the five-year period must also submit to an FBI check. The individuals in Ohio are responsible for paying for their own background checks.

Rolfes stated, “It is highly important to fingerprint coaches as they can just pick up and move from town to town and state to state to avoid getting caught while still continuing their abuse of children.”

There is reason for concern in Ohio, as in the past, a coach was caught in a semi-nude photo with a student while another was accused of sexually assaulting a student on a team trip.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association expressed its concern that out of all of the coaches in schools, 55% of those are volunteers who are not subjected to the same mandatory background checks as school employees. The athletic association hopes to vote on mandating the web based training, which would provide needed ethical training.

This discussion of policy change occurred due to the news story from July 2006, which revealed that a convicted felon, Rakeem Felton, officiated three games for the county while he was on probation for drug possession and driving while impaired. Felton also had two assault convictions. In October 2006, the county began running background checks for umpires and referees after learning about Felton’s convictions.

Felton is now serving time in a state prison because his probation was revoked in 2007.

Alamance County Commission Member, Bill Lashley, supports the widened background checks and said that the county commissioners will probably sign off on the changes, but those changes most likely will not happen until the fall.

While expanding the checks statewide is a step in the right direction, it would be most effective for Alamance County to start checking nationwide, or at least in all of the areas a person has lived. Unfortunately, sex offenders do not find it difficult to move out of state and avoid re-registering as they should. It is not thorough to only check the current county or state for criminal records, especially for a person who will be working with children.