Boston Red Sox Hit with $10 Million Sex Abuse Lawsuit
Two men are seeking $10 million in settlements from the Boston Red Sox, alleging that a former Red Sox clubhouse manager sexually assaulted them when they were teenagers working at the clubhouse.
Charles Crawford and another Massachusetts native, who opted to remain anonymous, claim that Donald Fitzpatrick, who died in 2005, molested them in the early 1990s when they worked for the baseball team as attendants.
The two are seeking settlements because the statute of limitations to press criminal charges has run out.
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Crawford, now in his 30s, said he decided to come forward because of the recent child abuse scandals that have been making headlines, including the Penn State sex scandal surrounding former football coach Jerry Sandusky.
"People need to know what happened," he told the AP. "It's still mind-boggling to me."
Crawford alleges that Fitzpatrick raped him twice in the clubhouse when he was 16 and that his life has been in shambles ever since, as he has had trouble holding down jobs and has fathered five children with five different women.
"What he thought was the best of all worlds by working with the Red Sox was eclipsed by the worst of all worlds when he was sexually molested by Donald Fitzpatrick," the men's lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, told Fox News.
The second accuser, who worked as a bat boy, said that Fitzpatrick sexually assaulted and groped him numerous times, and that the team often joked about Fitzpatrick's odd behavior.
"They would say, 'Did Fitzy touch your arm or did he touch your leg?' and then laugh," the accuser told the Brandon Sun. "I think they were joking because they sensed something was odd, and I think they knew he was strange."
Fitzpatrick has been accused of molesting children before. In 2003, the team settled a lawsuit with seven other men who also claimed that Fitzpatrick molested them during the 1970s. In addition, in 2002, he pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted sexual battery on a child under 12 in Florida, for which he received a 10-year suspended sentence and 15 years of probation.
