Grand Rapids, MI- When some parents of young football players in Michigan could not find any information on the internet about the football background of their sons’ coach, Benjamin Albright, they became suspicious. One parent learned the coach’s true identity and alerted state police when they discovered Benjamin Albright was really Benjamin Walcott, a convicted sex offender with an apparent foot fetish. Officials ran Walcott’s plate and his identity was confirmed. Benjamin Walcott helped run football camps in Ottawa, Allegan and Ionia counties, and at least once on school property in Belding. Walcott is accused of sexually abusing the kids during camp off-hours. It is believed Walcott tricked the boys into using their bare feet to play with toys while he photographed and videotaped them. He is also accused of touching the boys’ feet and made them walk barefoot on his back. Walcott allegedly told one family he was working with Under Armour to obtain scholarship money for their son based upon product testing that required careful measurement of the child’s feet, but the scholarship did not exist.
In February 2002, Walcott was convicted of two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct when he coached a swimming class at Hudsonville High School and was a youth soccer coach and head umpire for the Georgetown Little League. In November 2001, Walcott took two 10-year old boys out to dinner who were on the soccer team he coached. Walcott took the boys into a Circuit City parking lot and photographed their feet in various poses. He also had the boys rub their feet on a stuffed animal that he held against his genitals. Walcott admitted he did this to other boys on other occasions. He also admitted in court that he received sexual gratification from touching the feet of young boys and from watching the boys manipulate toys with their feet.
Before he was sentenced, members of the victims’ families wrote letters to the judge, expressing concern that Walcott would do this again one day. They described him as a charismatic liar who found ways to get children alone. Walcott completed his probation in 2007. Benjamin Walcott, 28, now faces a 10-year felony for two counts of accosting, enticing or soliciting a child for immoral purposes. His bond set at $50,000 and more charges are forthcoming in Ionia County for one count of working within a student safety zone in violation of the Sex Offenders Registration Act, a one-year felony.
Tags: coach, Crime, Michigan, Sex Offender, soccer
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