By Robert Sobus | WBAL News • October 17, 2022 | Original Source
A former Baltimore County baseball coach has been convicted for the sexual abuse of a 7-year-old boy, Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott D. Shellenberger said on Monday.
Melvin Joseph Tucker, 34, of Dundalk, was charged with the sexual abuse of a minor, second-degree rape and third-degree sexual offense, police said.
Tucker was a baseball coach for the Arbutus Recreation Council in 2018. He coached 7-year-old children within the program Tucker used his status as a coach to befriend one of the boys on the team and invited him over to his house for sleepovers. During the second occasion that the boy was at the home, Tucker sexually abused him, according to prosecutor Lisa Dever.
“This young man showed incredible courage in coming forward several years later to report what had happened to him,” Shellenberger said in a news release. “We owe a duty to protect those who are sexually abused from predators such as this.”
A sentencing date has not been set.