Belmont Heights Little League Learns to Run Background Checks

When the umpire of a game for the Belmont Heights Little League in Tampa, Florida failed to show, a man by the name of Byron James Simmons came out of the stands and offered to volunteer to call the game.

Artis Gambrell, president of the little league, recognized the man and coached him in the league when he was young. Simmons' own 10-year old son even played on the team as a second baseman. Gambrell acknowledged that he knew Simmons would know how to call the game and allowed him to volunteer. He did not run a background check because league rules, at that time, did not require one.

A quick background check would have revealed that Simmons was a repeat offender and it only would have taken just a few minutes to complete. Tampa police are now reporting that Simmons raped a 10-year old girl at a park in his van last weekend.

Again, had the league run a background check, they would have revealed that Simmons violated probation stemming from being convicted of possessing a firearm when he was in school. He was then given 270 days in jail. In 2003, he was convicted of the sale and possession of cocaine as well as lewd and lascivious molestation of a minor in between the ages of 12-15 years old. Simmons was given 5 years in prison with credit for time served. Furthermore, he has been arrested for aggravated assault, gambling, theft of a vehicle, marijuana possession as well as fraud.

Gambrell stated that until the present, coaches and other personnel were given background checks, but volunteers, normally parents, were not. The league is going to run background checks on everyone from here on out.

While Simmons didn't register as a sex offender until April of this year and began volunteering in February, a background check would still have picked up his criminal record and prevented him from volunteering.