By: Chris Gilson, cgilson@cbs4qc.com
Two child sex offenders are arrested after police said they were helping coach youth sports near Fulton, Illinois. Now the team's head coaches are shocked by the charges.
The sidelines of little league baseball and football games are the last place parents and coaches ever through they would find convicted sex offenders. But, that's exactly what Whiteside County Sheriff's Department said happened over the past few months near Fulton. Thanks to anonymous tips the Whiteside County Sheriff's Department was able to nab the two men.
Neither the Coach of the Mudcats Traveling Baseball Team or one of the in the Northern Illinois Youth Tackle Football League were able to go on camera. But, both tell me each of the men had kids on their teams and they were just volunteering to help out. Something they said isn't unusual for parents to do. And both coaches said there have been no complaints of abuse from players or parents.
39-year-old Philip Plattenberger of Mount Carroll, IL was arrested on Tuesday. Plattendberger helped coach kids 12 and under on the Mudcats Traveling Baseball team last summer.
The team's coach Matt Sanderson said he has more questions than answers about the charges. Sanderson said he knew Plattenberger had been involved in a situation more than a decade ago, but didn't know it still was a problem.
The other sex offender, 38 year old Scott Eyrich helped out with Randy Rash's little league football team. The team is made up of 8 years and younger.
Rash said Eyrich volunteered for 3 weeks then asked to become a coach. Rash said they always do a background check on coaches, but Eyrich was allowed to go on the sidelines for a week as coach before a background check was done.
Rash said after that first week police told him Eyrich shouldn't be coaching the team because he is a convicted sex offender. His football team is now going to make it mandatory for all coaches to have a background check before they can take the field.
