WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – Can a registered sex offender coach children in Kansas? That question popped up after a concerned parent emailed FactFinder 12 about a registered sex offender coaching a youth sports team.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said there is no criminal law in Kansas that prevents a convicted sex offender from coaching in youth sports. With the coach not doing anything illegal by coaching, 12 News is not naming him nor the team.
Bennett did say, “There may be conditions of parole or probation that prohibit ‘unsupervised conduct’ or require a convicted offender to not reside within a certain distance from a school.” But “Once the term of probation has been served, that condition no longer applies.”
Personal protection expert and former Miami Police Detective Joe Schillaci said youth sports are a way in which sex offenders can find victims.
“Predators will go anywhere that there are kids, especially pedophiles,” Schillaci said. “It won’t just be there. It’s anywhere that kids congregate. That’s why I always tell the listeners that you have to be very proactive and very aware of where your children are, who they’re involved with. Get involved. The more you get involved, the more you police your children.”
Schillaci said simple Google searches of names, background checks and more are ways to find information about your child’s coaches.
“If you know the name of the person that’s coaching, Google that name. It’s public record,” he said. “If that person is on a registry, it’ll come up. So, yeah, by all means. And again, be proactive with the organization that your child is going to be a part of. Ask questions, get involved, attend those practices, get to know other parents, get to know those coaches. Don’t just think you can send your child out the door and he or she is going to be safe anywhere, nonetheless a youth organization. We like to think that, in most cases they are, but you can’t just rely on that, you have to do your own due diligence.”
Many youth club sports teams that aren’t affiliated with organizations aren’t obligated to do background checks on staff.
Copyright 2022 KWCH. All rights reserved. To report a correction or typo, please email news@kwch.com
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/UCOVLR2C5RD2DPZ4Q5LFTJFOQY.PNG&description=Concern+raised+with+registered+sex+offender+coaching+youth+sports+team){kind=link}