FROM A FRIEND, ANYONE WITH CHILDREN ATTENDING THIS BUSINESS PLEASE READ!
TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL ASSAULT
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Hi. This is a call out. I am calling out Carl Reid, my elementary school gym teacher in 1999 who is currently still working with children.
I was 7 years old.
In 1999 the Tiverton Police came to my school, Carl Reid was arrested and arraigned on two counts of second degree child molestation-sexual assault. Police said their investigation began after parents of several students at the school complained about the teacher.
This happened 19 years ago but the memory of the inside mesh pockets of "Mr. Reid's" gym shorts is still vivid.
I recently watched the hbo documentary "Paterno," which centers on Penn State's Joe Paterno in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky's sexual abuse scandal.
This sparked the memory of Mr. Reid's gym shorts. What followed was stomach turning. A quick google search, "Carl Reid Tiverton," directed me to his current employer, Inside The Park.
"Inside The Park Batting Cages is a family owned and operated, state of the art indoor facility serving southeastern New England baseball and softball enthusiasts since 1990." They boast about Carl on their website, they even mention him stepping away from coaching in 1999 (not mentioning his arrest) but explain that nowadays he "..has spent his time doing one-on-one instruction with young and aspiring pitchers."
I downloaded Carl's case information right off the Rhode Island Judiciary's website. There it was, 3 felony counts of 2nd degree child molestation. The information available was only limited, while simultaneously being full of alarming information. I was put in contact with the attorney generals office to see if they would allow me to view the rest of the documents because of my involvement in the case, my findings, and my concerns. They instructed me to contact his current employer.
I called Inside The Park on April 12th, I asked to speak to a manager and was directed to Matt. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, I asked if they do background checks on their employees. Without answering he asked if there was a problem, I explained that I was a former student of Carl's and I was concerned for the children in contact with him. I informed him that his employee had been charged with 3 felony accounts of child molestation. I told Matt that I had the police report from 1999, a copy of his case information as well as a screen shot of his info on beenverified.com (which shows the charges), he asked me to email them to his personal email. I did.
The next day I called Inside The Park looking for Matt. First told he would be in later, then told he had already left for the day. I called again on the 14th, no answer. I emailed Matt again on the 17th looking for an update, another day went by and he responded. The response was short and only mentined "looking into the court findings." Since then I have heard nothing from Matt or anyone at Inside The Park. Mr. Reid's name and information is still there on their website as of today, April 25th. I wasn't surprised that I didn't hear back.
A lot of people remember Mr. Reid because he went on to continue to be in our communities, working with our children. Making his debut back as a Tiverton High School baseball volunteer assistant coach in 2003 then assumed the head coach position in 2009, serving through 2015. In 2016, he coached the Newport Jr. Gulls 12 and under team.
Mr. Reid's bail was set to $50,000. He paid his bail and returned a mere 3 years later, no one in the town even blinked.
I am reaching out to you all today because these are disgusting and inexcusable acts that happened to my peers, myself and potentially others.
I want Carl Reid to be held accountable for his actions. I want to call into question the Tiverton School Department's reasoning for allowing this man back in our schools. I want to hear from Inside The Park. I want the parents of the children he has been in contact with to know who they are leaving their children with. I want other potential victims to know that they are not alone and that I will not give up on them. read more