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Tampa Father, Volunteer Umpire, Arrested In Rape

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 30, 2008

TAMPA - As a 16-year-old, Byron Simmons played baseball in the Belmont Heights Little League.

When Simmons, now 29, showed up at a league game in February to watch his 10-year-old son play, he volunteered to act as an umpire when one failed to show, said league President Artis Gambrell, who coached Simmons as a youth.

The league had known Simmons as a former player and now knew him as a parent. What the staff didn't know was that Simmons was also a convicted sexual offender, Gambrell said.

They found out after police arrested Simmons just before 4 a.m. Sunday in connection with the rape of a young girl on May 10.

Simmons was released from state prison on Nov. 24, 2007, after serving five years for a conviction of attempted lewd and lascivious act on a child from 12 to 15 years old and cocaine-related charges, Florida Department of Corrections records show.

Because the league stopped paying umpires this season to save money, several parents have filled in as needed and Simmons did so a few times, Gambrell said.

Little League International's Child Protection Program requires that local leagues conduct background checks on managers, coaches, board of directors members and any other persons, volunteers or hired workers, who provide regular service to the league and have repetitive access to, or contact with, players or teams, according to the Little League organization.

The Belmont Heights league performs those background checks but it does not perform checks on parents who fill in for absent umpires, Gambrell said.

"In hindsight, maybe we should have checked on him," Gambrell said. "But we usually don't make it a practice to check on parents."

Simmons first volunteered with the league in February but did not register with state's list of convicted sexual offenders until April 26, Gambrell said.

"We had no way of knowing," he said.

The league received no complaints concerning Simmons' behavior toward players or his criminal history, Gambrell said.

Sunday's arrest report said Simmons picked up the girl from her home and drove her to Copeland Park on North 15th Street at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

Simmons locked the doors to his van, raped the girl and then threatened to hurt her if she told anyone, the report said. He was arrested at an apartment on Inoma Street.

Simmons is being held without bail at the Orient Road Jail, records show.

News Channel 8 Reporter Samara Sodos contributed to this report. Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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