Retired Red Sox Clubhouse Manager Pleads Guilty to Sex Abuse of Batboys
By Vickie Chachere
Originally published by The Associated Press, May 16, 2002
BARTOW, Florida (AP) — A retired Boston Red Sox clubhouse manager who enticed boys with an opportunity to be near the team pleaded guilty Thursday to sex crimes spanning two decades.
Donald James Fitzpatrick, 72, agreed to reduced charges of four counts of attempted sexually battery on a child under 12. He paid the four victims $10,000 each in restitution.
Thirteen people have accused Fitzpatrick of molesting them or sexually harassing them while they worked at the team's spring training camp in Winter Haven. They now range in age from their late teens to their 30s.
The victims said Fitzpatrick, who is white, preyed on black boys. The youngest was 4 years old at the time and had tagged along with his older brother, who was working at the ballpark.
Fitzpatrick received 15 years of probation and a 10-year suspended prison sentence in Polk County Circuit Court. He could have faced more than 30 years in prison.
Fitzpatrick, who is single and has no children, will return to his home in Randolph, Mass., where he is being forced to move from an apartment because he is now banned from living near children.
Fitzpatrick said little during the brief hearing but told the judge he was entering the pleas "because I am guilty."
Prosecutors said they agreed to the deal because Fitzpatrick is ill with kidney disease and likely would have waged a lengthy legal fight over extradition to Florida.
The plea agreement was accepted by Circuit Judge Judith Flanders over the objections of one victim, who was 10 when Fitzpatrick began abusing him in 1973.
"I would just like justice done," said Leeronnie Ogletree, 39.
"This man should be put away," added Oreathea Ogletree, his mother. "He has destroyed the lives of too many black children."
Three other victims agreed to the settlement.
Fitzpatrick retired from the Red Sox in 1991, the same year a Boston attorney requested a $1.5 million settlement from the team on behalf of a former bat boy who said he was molested from 1969 to 1971. The boy said he was fired when he complained to another team employee about Fitzpatrick.
A federal civil lawsuit is pending against Fitzpatrick and the Red Sox claiming team officials knew of the abuse and did nothing abut it. The team has denied wrongdoing.
Investigators were not able to determine if any Red Sox players knew of the abuse. Jon Cole, who said he is a cousin of former Red Sox pitcher Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd and whose two sons were the youngest victims, said players often joked about Fitzpatrick's sexual proclivities.
Cole, who was in tears following the hearing, and Eric Frazier, one of the four victims covered by the agreement, told Fitzpatrick after the hearing they forgave him.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement records made public Thursday said several men told investigators Fitzpatrick began molesting them shortly after hiring them to work at the clubhouse. The incidents occurred in the locker room and at Fitzpatrick's hotel room.
One man told investigators he began working for Fitzpatrick in 1973 and was repeatedly molested for seven years. The man, whose name was excised from investigators' reports, was hired by the Red Sox at the age of 17 and moved to Boston, where he said the abuse continued.
FDLE agents taped a telephone call between the man and Fitzpatrick where Fitzpatrick stated he was "sick back then" and "I hated myself for it." Later in an interview with FDLE Special Agent Al Danna and a Randolph Police sergeant, Fitzpatrick admitted to performing oral sex on one of the boys.
Fitzpatrick told the authorities "he knew it was wrong, hated himself and was ashamed," Dana wrote in the report. "Fitzpatrick also advised that he 'prayed' he wouldn't get caught, but knew one day he would."
