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Roslindale youth-baseball coach charged with 'enticing' player
By adamg on Mon, 07/16/2012 - 9:10am
Jose Ortega, 41, a coach with the Boston Broncos youth baseball team, was ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail today at his arraignment on four counts of enticement of a child under 16, one count of unnatural and lascivious acts with a child under 16, and one count of attempting to commit a crime – posing a child under 18 in a state of nudity.
All of the charges read against Ortega in West Roxbury District Court today relate to a single player he recruited for the team earlier this year, in part by claiming major-league connections, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Additional cases are now under investigation, the DA's office says.
Prosecutors are not alleging that Ortega actually touched the boy, but do charge he fondled himself in the boy's presence:
Over the weeks and months that followed [the boy's recruitment] Ortega allegedly began "grooming" the boy in phone conversations, in Facebook messages, and in person. He allegedly asked the boy to enter his van to engage in sexual activity, to come over and shower at Ortega's house, and to take sexualized photos of himself to send to Ortega.
The case first came to light when a relative of the boy observed some of the explicit messages on the boy’s Facebook account.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
Oh Jesus!
Sorry, I mean Oh Jose!
Isn't it painfully clear now pedos gravitate towards stuff like coaches, little league, boy scouts, teachers, police, clergy? I know I'm painting a broad brush, but there's obviously a problem. These folks need to be vetted better or something.
Nope
It's just painfully clear that the pedophiles that get the most attention are the ones that take up roles like coach and clergy. By and large, most pedophiles have normal jobs and usually only ever do anything physical with children that they know with a relationship they can abuse (relatives, neighbors, etc.).
Besides, how are you going to vet a little league coach "better" to determine if he's a pedophile? Show him pictures of naked little boys and see if he gets aroused? You just have to teach your kids what is appropriate and inappropriate and to be sure they understand to report to an adult they trust anything inappropriate.
Bingo
You also need to be sure that kids who report such behavior by adults are taken seriously.
That said, the messages kids get about pedophiles are so clear that my son and his friends have invented a character called "Van Man" and an entire skit based around stereotypical "friending" behavior and the classic enticement: candy. Van Man offers kids chocolates if they come out to his van ("its pahked behind the stadium") and follow the rules (you can't wear no clothes in this heyah van ... your moms would be mad if you got the chocolate on them!) and so on.
Hilarious stuff, sure - but all the parents are glad that it shows they got the message if they can make a good parody out of it.
Swirly, you and your whole family are nuts
I love it. God bless you all. No joke.
En Espanol!
They even translated it into Spanish. Pure lunacy!
How to protect kids? 1) Hang
How to protect kids?
1) Hang out a little after dropping them off at an activity. Show up at unexpected times. See the interactions between the kids and caretakers.
2) Make sure you monitor your kids' Facebook, phone texts.
3) Listen to the kids who have been through the program...in at least one story, an older athlete who had been on this baseball team said "it was about time" that someone had addressed this. In other words such activity may have been going on for years (look at Penn State) and most youths -- and even those around them -- are too afraid to say anything.
4) Keep in mind: it is often the "less popular" or "loner" kids who end up being targeted, because they are looked at as being weaker (and sometime their care providers are absent/overburdened). Be very wary of adults who offer to step in and take care of these children outside of the designated activity.
There are many saints in the world who help take care of children who are lost/needing support. But there is a small number of adults who do this for the wrong reason. It is sad, but it is often those folks who are thought to be "amazing" with children who end up being victimizers.
vetting coaches
Hi Kaz,
In general I am agreeing w/ you but I would mention that one way of vetting coaches better is to do a CORI (FWIW) I know the Regan Youth League did a CORI on me to be an asst. coach in softball. And Henry Alan is correct that RYL did very well at the Mayor's Cup. In our softball division we took second (only 4 teams total, but excellent skill levels!)
Sure
But would a CORI of this guy turned up anything?
I also don't necessarily like hanging people for crimes they may have committed but paid their dues on and changed from. You don't exactly get the full case history by simply doing a CORI check and we've allowed criminal creep to make things like peeing in an alley a "sex crime".
CORI worth?
agreed, (note my FWIW in my original reply)
JPM
Mayor's Cup
Glad to hear things went well with softball! I coached one of the AA softball teams, but my connection with Mayor's cup was in the 9 year old baseball tournament, where we made it to the semi-finals out of 12 participating teams.
glad we never found that program
I did not even know Roslindale had a little league; our kids signed up for the JP league and everyone else we knew signed up for Parkway
Its a Latino
Team, Non Latino's Need Not Apply. You can see the teams van parked off Wash towards the Hills. Its Red! Also why would you pick JP of West Roxbury for a youth sports program?
Why wouldn't you pick JP over Westy?
Regan Youth League is a very well run effort with almost 900 youth participants. They also play competitive teams in the city-wide Mayor's cup tournament and perhaps have a less cut-throat, more developmental approach than Parkway, though I don't know this last bit from any personal experience with Parkway. In the Mayor's cup tournament this year, Regan League teams out performed Parkway, so again, why not?
I was under the impression...
...that referring to West Roxbury as "Westy/ie" was frowned-upon as irritating Yuppie behavior.
I've spent all of 3 minutes in West Roxbury checking a map, I have nothing in this game. It is an irritating nickname, though.
Fact check?
You might want to verify if the Boston Broncos are part of the Little League organization. I don't believe they are.
Well ...
I've updated the post with arraignment info, which, yes, involves the Broncos. However, if you search for "Jose Ortega" and Roslindale, among the things that come up are listings on various sites for non-profit groups, including this one, in which he lists himself as the contact for "Roslindale Baseball Little League."
"little league"
I've seen a couple of other listings created by Mr. Ortega that referred to his "little league" teams but I think the Little League national organization would be happy to disown the Broncos and Mr. Ortega if asked.
I've seen their beat-up club
I've seen their beat-up club van around Healy field and the JP Community Center for years, and damn it- there was a pedo-vibe to it. The sort of DIY feel about it and the lettering "Excellent Baseball Program". Of course none of those things are indicators of a potential child molester and I probably am only seeing this in hindsight, but still. It is a double shame since this is probably going to blow back on all of the innocent baseball loving kids who actually get a lot out of being on a travel team. I just hope this isn't one of this tip of the iceberg things, hopefully this got stopped before he had a chance to damage anyone else.
My son has played for and
My son has played for and been coached by the individual accussed. I am sickened by situation. I know many people who have trained with Jose and he is an excellent baseball trainer. The people that I have spoken to do not believe that he would ever have any malicious intentions. He is a good guy. The red club van is very visable in the community and is used to carry uniforms and equipment and sometimes players. I trusted this person because he has been trustworthy. I have a horrible feeling that we will soon find out the charged are based on false statements. Jose has helped hundreds of kids and given them something to strive for. He has dedicated his life to this program. I feel very sorry that this happended to him.
Two Words
Jerry Sandusky.
Sounds like they have a lot more than accusations - like, an internet trail.
Just because he portrayed a
Just because he portrayed a certain image to you, doesn't mean he is the same way behind closed doors. Don't be so blinded by what you are familiar with. Further investigation needs to be done and more people from past and recent present have come up with further allegations. Your mentality is what keeps pedophiles out there in close range of children. I assure Jose is no Mr. Nice Guy.
broncos van
I dunno about a pedo-vibe to the van. It does not have darkened windows etc. It is often parked halfway into the street near the ballfield by the Agassiz, thus blocking my way down Child Street. I get a "get off my lawn vibe" but I assume that is my own hang-up about people appropriating public space as their own! I feel bad for the kids because I have seen them work incredibly hard during the off season at Franklin Park and indoors at Curtis Hall.
I thought it was creepy
I took a picture of it the other day
creepy van
ok, that van is kind of creepy, but that is not the one that I am referring to. The one I see all the time is a maroon passenger van, similar to a ford econoline van (club wagon)
He wasn't serious
That picture is of "pedobear", an internet joke run amok where the cartoon bear became intentionally associated with pedophilia (as if pedophiles all had a single calling card). It was subsequently used to mock news, police, and child welfare groups who overreact when they see pedobear, thinking they've stumbled onto a pedophile who is advertising his pedophilia.
Here's the full backstory at Know Your Meme.
I am extremely disgusted by
I am extremely disgusted by this. My brother used to play for this league and thank God he is out. My dad always found something fishy about him, and to me he looks weird. His league is for Roslindale, but he goes to the Reagan Youth League for JP to revruit those players too. His van can be seen everywhere. All he does is try and recruit other kids and take a large amount of money from parents for there kids to participate in the league. Sometimes he charges families almost $800-$1000 for their kids to play. From my expreiences this league is quite unorganized and is leaves your pockets and wallets empty. Obviously there was evidence behind this story, inappropaite facebook messages were seen and stories were told. Police wouldn't just arrest him and charge him without reason, and why all of a sudden would a family just make this up? Even a former player said that something like this wouldn't surprise him, and other kids have said that as well. He bribes the kids into playing with him, by telling them that he will buy them baseball equipment. This is absoultey disgusting and "Brujo" gets what he deserves.