May 14, 2008 11:55 pm US/Eastern
Washington Co. Little League Coach Tells His Story
TAYLORSTOWN (KDKA) ―
A local Little League coach's history is upsetting some parents.
Three years ago, William Cline, Jr., pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault and he wants people to know his side of the story.
"I am no child molester. I want that clear for.. I want that on the record. It was a case of me being lied to about a girl's age that I was dating," Cline said.
Cline was in his mid-30's at the time and tells KDKA he believed the girl he was dating was of age. It was only later he discovered she was not.
"When I said I was taking my wife back with my two children, and then it was told to me, then it was told to me that the girl was under the age of 18," he said.
Cline's lawyer advised him to plead guilty to statutory sexual assault. Now in Taylorstown, Washington County, Cline is coaching 9 - and 10 - year - old boys for the 10 Mile Valley Youth Baseball League.
Pony International, which oversees thousands of baseball and softball teams, uses a red light, green light system to identify sexual offenders.
"A red light means that we have a problem and we've identified a coaching candidate who may appear on Megan's Law registry," Abraham Key said.
But Cline was never registered under Megan's Law. He wasn't required to. In Pennsylvania pleading guilty to statutory sexual assault or for that matter corruption of a minor or indecent exposure won't put someone on the Megan's Law list.
Cline wants people to consider the circumstances of his case and he wants to keep coaching.
"This could have happened to any red-blooded American male in the United States that didn't ask for a birth certificate before he started dating somebody," Cline said.
The president of the 10 Mile Valley Youth Baseball ran a check on Cline after a parent alerted him to his possible criminal record, but nothing showed up.
Cline also reports that he applied to be a youth coach elsewhere and was turned down are not true.
There could be a meeting tomorrow to decide Cline's fate as a coach.
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