The former major league player Austin Maddoxwho had a short stint pitching for the Boston Red Sox In 2017, he was arrested in Florida in what authorities call a “child predator operation.”
Maddox was one of 27 people arrested as part of a multi-agency operation late last month, Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters said.
They are accused of soliciting sex over the Internet from people they believed were children, authorities said.
Sheriff TK Waters addressed the arrest at Monday’s press conference… saying, “Austin Maddox, a former MLB player for the Red Sox, traveled with the intent to engage in sexual activity with a 14-year-old child.”
Police released video showing Maddox being arrested. You can see him get out of a red truck and enter a house while he comes face to face with several officers, who set him up.
Maddox, 33, began communicating with an undercover agent pretending to be an underage girl on April 28, according to an arrest report.
He expressed his intention to have sexual relations with the girl even after she told him she was 14 years old, authorities said.
Maddox agreed to meet the girl at a prearranged location, where he was arrested by law enforcement officers, authorities said.
He is charged with four felonies, including traveling to meet after using a computer to solicit a child. He is being held in jail on $300,000 bail.
James Hill, Maddox’s defense attorney, said he intends to fight the allegations against him and will plead not guilty if formal charges are filed.
Maddox is due in court next week.
