Those who knew arrested counselors shocked by allegations

The men nurtured dozens of young athletes and students over the years, encouraging them to make something good of their lives.

Four days after organizing a youth football clinic, Romey Battle and Michael Brown were arrested and charged with trafficking in cocaine in East Tampa.

Battle and Brown's July 11 Hometown Heroes Youth Football Clinic at the University of South Florida's Fowler Field, an event they organized through the Center for Urban Programs & Services and Goal Line Sports Foundation, drew nearly 300 kids from the Tampa area.

During police interviews, Battle, 36, and Brown, 34, told detectives they intended to use their drug profits to pay for programs to help disadvantaged children in East Tampa.

They launched their nonprofit urban center in 2007 and soon after the Goal Line foundation. The purpose of Goal Line, according to its by-laws, is to "provide student athletes with the necessary tools to succeed."

Previously, Battle worked at Audrey Spotford Youth & Family Center on East Lake Avenue for about five years mentoring youth in the YO! program, Youth Opportunity Movement of Tampa. It has been one of several administered over the years with grants provided to the Corporation to Develop Communities of Tampa, which owns the youth center.

Brown also worked for CDC as a youth counselor.

Both left employment on good terms; Battle about two years ago and Brown before that, said CDC director Toni Watts. There was no indication either would wind up arrested on drug charges, she said.
"When [Battle] was with CDC, he did a great job," she said. "There are a lot of young people in college to indicate that."

The arrests are very disappointing, Watts said. "I hate to see this for the kids that looked up to [them]."

The two counselors befriended dozens of standout athletes in the Tampa area over the years, including former Chamberlain High and Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Brodrick Bunkley, ex-Hillsborough High and former Tampa Rays outfielder Elijah Dukes, former Middleton and New York Giants rookie defensive back Stoney Woodson, and most recently, Moses McCray (Hillsborough) and Rhonne Sanderson (Plant), both entering their second seasons with the Florida State University football program.

Raymond Neal, now at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, was a rising football star at King High before a three-year prison sentence shortened his prep career. Neal said it was Battle who helped him get back on his feet. Battle testified on Neal's behalf at his sentencing.

"[Battle] has always been somebody who was a leader to us so we wouldn't go down the wrong path," said Neal, who met Battle in 2001. "Sometimes, he would go to his wife to help me out. To hear that, that's heartbreaking. He took me in his home at times. He was the second man in my life."

Woodson, who signed with South Carolina as a senior at Middleton, always knew Battle to be a positive influence.

"I was shocked," Woodson said. "He did good things. I knew him pretty well. He was a positive role model."

Neal said he never suspected Battle was involved with drug trafficking.

"If he was doing that, he kept it away from us."

At the July 11 camp, youths did drills and exercises with former prep football players from the area.
During the clinic, Battle told The Tribune, "We did this so kids and the parents could experience something like this. We have to do this to get more parents and the community involved. With these economic times, this was free. Everything now is about a dollar."

Battle and Brown said they organized the event without the help of sponsors, but were still able to fund nearly 200 T-shirts and posters, refreshments and equipment.

Their arrests were the result of a three-month investigation. Police say they seized 167 grams of cocaine, 83 grams of crack cocaine, $1,800 in cash and two vehicles. Both men turned themselves in to police at Orient Road Jail Thursday. They posted $25,000 bonds each and were released later that night.

Police records show Battle has a prior 2007 arrest for driving under the influence. In 1998 he was arrested for selling or possessing a vehicle with an altered tag number. He gave his employer in 1998 as the Department of Juvenile Justice in Tallahassee.

Records show Brown has no prior arrests. The address for the nonprofit urban center on Cypress Street is a residence. A young man who answered the door Friday said he did not know either Brown or Battle. Brown, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Reidel Anthony and Coleman Bell, but not Battle, are listed as company officers for the nonprofit.