Youth Coach Charged With Stalking Rival

Youth Coach Charged With Stalking Rival, A baseball coach is alleged to have taken a rivalry to absurd lengths in New York. Long Island youth baseball coach arrested for aggravated assault, stalking after threatening opposing coach and his family, A youth baseball coach from Long Island, NY was arrested at a game on Friday night after a disturbing event in which he allegedly stalked and threatened the family of a rival coach. The incident marks the latest and most terrifying case of a coach going far beyond any line of acceptability or legality in youth sports.

As first reported by Newsday and quickly followed upon by the Associated Press and a variety of other outlets, 45-year-old Robert Sanfilippo appeared in court on Saturday after being arrested on charges of stalking and aggrevated harassment. According to the victim of Sanfilippo’s advances, the coach began harassing his opposite number much earlier, but was arrested during a game on Friday.

By that point, Sanfilippo had allegedly stalked the family outside their house, sending threatening text messages from an untraceable phone. Among the salvos the coach sent to John Reardon of Commack, N.Y. were blurry images apparently taken from a long-distance camera.

Sanfilippo allegedly threatened to harm Reardon and his family in his texts, and later sent photos depicting the coach walking with his son to the bus stop before school and Reardon’s wife taking items out from the couple’s car.