Arizona softball coach gets prison for sexually abusing underage athletes, Yolo DA says
A Yolo County judge has sentenced a 43-year-old youth softball coach from Arizona to 37 years and 4 months to life in prison for sexually abusing underage athletes he was hired to train, prosecutors said.
As part of his sentence, Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul Richardson on Wednesday ordered the softball batting coach, Buck Maldonado Thomas, to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, according to a news release from the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said the coach’s victims included athletes from Arizona and Nevada who came forward after hearing news of his criminal charges in Yolo County.
On Oct. 1, a jury found Thomas guilty of multiple crimes including forcible sexual assault of a minor, first-degree burglary and sexual battery on a minor.
A Yolo County girl was the first athlete to make a complaint, telling police that Thomas had sexually assaulted her at her home in July 2018, prosecutors said. She revealed the abuse in November 2018. Her family had hired Thomas as a private hitting coach after she met him at a softball tournament in Orange County.
Prosecutors said the crimes occurred in West Sacramento. The freelance batting coach did not have his own facility. Instead, he coached girls at his home or traveled to their homes.
The West Sacramento Police Department immediately investigated the allegations against Thomas after the initial complaint and then learned of a second possible local victim who also trained with him. Both girls were taken to the Yolo County Multi-Disciplinary Interview Center, where underage victims of alleged sexual abuse are interviewed by forensically trained experts, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
In January 2019, Thomas was arrested in the Phoenix area by Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies, the Arizona Republic reported. Authorities told the Phoenix newspaper that one of the alleged victims had traveled from California to train in Arizona, where the alleged assault occurred. Thomas was later extradited to California to face charges in Yolo County.
At the time of his March 2019 arraignment in Yolo County, prosecutors suspected others may also have been victimized by Thomas.
Two more athletes from Arizona and one from Nevada learned of Thomas’ arrest in the news and through friends and acquaintances, and gave investigators information about Thomas. Prosecutors said these victims told police Thomas had given them batting instruction and that he had sexually assaulted them.
The athletes from Arizona and Nevada testified during Thomas’ three-and-half-week trial, before the jury reached a verdict after a day and a half of deliberations.
Parents of both of the victims spoke in court Wednesday about how Thomas’ crimes impacted their lives shortly before he was sentenced by the judge.
“The victims in this case came to court and testified to sexual assaults that happened to them, and their family members spoke with passion on their behalf at the sentencing hearing,” District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in the news release. “We are grateful Judge Richardson recognized their courage for coming forward and imposed a lengthy sentence, providing justice for the victims.”
