ARBUTUS, Md. — Baltimore County Police are asking parents to talk to their children if they’ve played in the Arbutus Little League after a former coach was arrested for sexually assaulting a minor.
Baltimore County Police Director of Public Affairs Joy Stewart said police have reason to believe there may be other victims.
Police arrested 33-year-old Melvin Tucker III on charges of second degree rape and sex abuse of a minor.
According to the young victim, the abuse occurred while Tucker III was coaching baseball with the Arbutus Little League.
The young athletes knew Tucker as “Coach Joe."
“We’re talking about a master manipulator who really took advantage of families,” Stewart said. “These are families who trusted this man with their children.”
The league is affiliated with Little League Baseball.
A spokesperson for Little League International sent a statement saying.
“Little League International was made aware of accusations made against a youth baseball coach who previously volunteered at Arbutus Little League. Little League International can confirm the individual has not volunteered in the Little League program since 2018.”
On their website they have a page on child protection.
In order to volunteer all applicants are required to fill out a form and all leagues must conduct a nationwide search that contains all applicable government sex offender registry data and be approved by local leagues board of directors.
“Right now we’re asking families and parents to have age appropriate conversations with their children,” said Stewart. “Especially if he was a coach or in the Arbutus Rec league a couple years ago when some of this abuse occurred. We’re asking parents to have an age appropriate conversation and see if their children might divulge some facts that up to this point they didn’t want to discuss.”
There are other resources including Turn Around Inc’s 24-hour hotline at 443-279-0379.
The Family Crisis Center of Baltimore County at 410-828-6390.
Anyone with information can contact detectives at 410-307-2020.
