Youth Soccer League Let Evanston Man Coach With Criminal Weapons Conviction

Written by Jennifer Fisher, Patch.com.

Despite an Evanston soccer coach’s criminal weapons conviction earlier this year, officials at local and national levels of the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) chose to allow him to continue volunteering with three teams of kids throughout the fall season, according to interviews with organization officials and e-mails obtained by Patch. 

A parent contacted the AYSO in September and again in October to let the agency know of concerns about the coach’s conviction for unlawful use of a weapon. Yet officials did not respond for weeks as he continued to coach, and finally told the parent that the criminal weapons conviction was not enough to keep him from volunteering. It’s unclear whether he will coach again next season.

A Conviction for Weapons Violation in February 2013

Evanston resident Ryan Garton has volunteered as a coach with the AYSO in Evanston for several years and served terms on the organization’s local board as assistant regional commissioner and regional commissioner, according to other league officials.

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His conviction stems from his arrest on May 30, 2012, when Evanston police found him holding a loaded, 9-millimeter handgun at the lakefront off Dempster Street, court records show. Garton also posted a note on Facebook around the same time, implying he might hurt himself, according to court records. He was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a misdemeanor.

On Feb. 28, 2013, a Cook County Circuit Court judge sentenced Garton to two years conditional discharge for unlawful use of a weapon, a misdemeanor. The terms of his discharge included the requirement that he surrender all of his weapons and his FOID card, according to court records.

Garton resigned from the AYSO board after the 2011-2012 season, and did not coach during the 2012-2013 season, according to regional commissioner John Herzig, who serves on the Evanston AYSO board. Asked why Garton resigned, Herzig said he “didn’t go into the details” with him. 

The incident on the lakefront in May 2012 was not the first time police were called due to Garton’s possession of guns. Court records show that in December 2011, police came to his Evanston home to confiscate four firearms he kept in a safe in the basement, after he threatened to shoot family members. Garton, however, told a judge that his threats were sarcastic, according to court records. He was not criminally charged in the matter, and police returned his firearms in February, a few months before he was arrested on the beach. However, a judge entered an order of protection in June 2013 on behalf of one of the people Garton threatened to shoot, based in part on the incident in December 2011.

Despite the conviction and order of protection, Garton’s lawyer, Enrico Mirabelli, defends his ability to coach.

“I challenge anyone to say that a child coached by Ryan Garton is not well coached and in good, safe hands,” Mirabelli told Patch. “He had an issue, he pled guilty, it is public record, but we’re not talking about a guy who got convicted of drunk driving, child molestation.”

Garton Passed Background Check in August 2013 

While AYSO coaches are volunteers, the organization requires all volunteers to comply with a national criminal background check policy adopted in 1998. Would-be coaches must submit an application form to the organization, including a criminal background check release, and undergo a safety training course in person or online. Background checks are conducted through the organization’s national “Safe Haven” program. 

According to Safe Haven program administrator Karen Mihara, AYSO uses several national criminal background checking companies, and its policy is based on convictions. Volunteers are asked to disclose any prior convictions during the application process, Mihara told Patch. 

Like other AYSO volunteers, Garton was required to pass a criminal background check this summer before the season began, as he had in prior years as a volunteer coach. It’s unclear whether the criminal conviction showed up on that background check.

The concerned parent, who asked not to be identified in this story, contacted Mihara after she found out Garton had a conviction for unlawful use of a weapon. The parent said she believed the company’s background checking policy must be “flawed,” given the fact that he was still allowed to coach.

“Your perception of the background check being flawed is based only upon a Cook County Criminal Court misdemeanor conviction not appearing on a criminal background check dated 8/17/13 and without any knowledge as to whether that court had made that information available to any background check vendors,” Mihara replied in an Oct. 15 e-mail obtained by Patch. “The misdemeanor conviction you reported was investigated and AYSO has exercised its discretion to allow Mr. Garton to continue to volunteer notwithstanding this conviction due to the particular facts and circumstances at issue.”

In a later conversation with Patch, Mihara directed all questions to AYSO spokesperson George Passantino of Passantino Andersen, a California-based marketing firm.

He confirmed that Garton underwent a background check, and said it was dated Aug. 16, 2013. Asked whether the February 2013 criminal conviction appeared, Passantino said he could not comment on the specifics of a background check. 

“The contents of background checks—in the interest of protecting the privacy of everybody—is not something that’s ever revealed,” Passantino said.

However, he also said “nothing was found that was a disqualifying condition from coaching.” 

AYSO Maintains It Has Discretion in Who Can Coach

If a conviction is discovered, Safe Haven staff use a list of guidelines and a table of convictions to determine whether someone may still volunteer, according to the program’s website. The table of convictions lists numerous crimes under different categories of severity, although “unlawful use of a weapon” does not make the list. The most similar crime listed is “unlawful possession of a weapon,” which is categorized under “miscellaneous crimes.” (Other categories include violent crimes, sex offenses, fraud and substance abuse.)

“Persons convicted of less serious crimes of violence, substance abuse or one of the listed miscellaneous crimes within the past 5 years should be disqualified from any coaching position or any position that leads children's activities,” the Safe Haven guidelines state.

However, the guidelines also state that AYSO has discretion to allow someone to coach despite a criminal conviction, depending on the facts of the case. 

Asked to explain why Garton was allowed to coach, Mihara told Patch there were “extenuating circumstances.”

“It’s our understanding that the judge has taken into consideration the extenuating circumstances surrounding that conviction and is prepared to set aside that determination,” she told Patch. “As long as the individual complies with the reported requirements, it will no longer be a conviction.”

Garton’s lawyer, Enrico Mirabelli, did not respond to multiple e-mails and phone calls from Patch requesting clarification about extenuating circumstances that would lead a judge to set aside his conviction. 

Garton’s sentence of conditional discharge is more severe than supervision, a court order that holds a case open for a certain period of time while no judgment of guilt is entered, according to the Illinois Legal Aid group. As long as the terms of supervision are met, a judge may dismiss the case without entering a conviction. Conditional discharge, in contrast, is a criminal conviction, although it is less severe than probation or incarceration, according to the Illinois Legal Aid group.

Mihara declined to elaborate on why a judge might set aside Garton’s conviction. 

“Our first priority is the protection of our children,” she told Patch. “We do our best to screen volunteers and to monitor. We do as well as, I think, any of the national organizations.”

Parent Raised Concerns With National Safe Haven Program and Local Board Members

The Evanston parent first notified the Safe Haven program of her concerns via e-mail on Sept. 15 after learning that Garton had been convicted of unlawful use of a weapon. A representative of the program replied two days later, to say that the concerns had been passed on to the Evanston program’s regional leadership.

After hearing nothing from the national Safe Haven program for more than two weeks, the parent contacted members of the Evanston AYSO board on Sept. 30. The next day, Mihara replied to say that Garton had been “processed and background checked in the same manner as all AYSO volunteers.” 

On Oct. 10, the parent sent proof of Garton’s unlawful weapons conviction to Mihara via e-mail. Mihara responded five days later, on Oct. 15.

“I can assure you that the background checking process utilized by Safe Haven conforms with the standards identified by the National Alliance of Youth Sports and other national youth serving organizations,” Mihara wrote. She also said that the misdemeanor conviction had been investigated, and that the AYSO had allowed Garton to continue volunteering despite the conviction, based on “the particular facts and circumstances at issue.”

Evanston AYSO regional commissioner John Herzig told Patch that he could not comment specifically on individual volunteers or their records. He confirmed that background checks are conducted nationally, and said that local leagues only get a list of coaches who are cleared to volunteer.

“I’m confident that all of the coaches and all of the volunteers we had dealing with kids went through all of the appropriate background checks,” Herzig told Patch. 

He said he hears a variety of concerns from parents throughout the year about coaches, and looks at those on a case-by-case basis. Only one parent had a concern about Garton, according to Herzig.

Patch, however, spoke to more than one parent who was concerned about Garton being allowed to coach with a criminal weapons conviction. None was willing to speak on the record. 

Asked whether Garton would be coaching AYSO soccer next year, Herzig said he was not in a position to answer the question.

“I do have the obligation to protect the privacy of everybody involved at AYSO,” he said.

Assistant regional commissioner Nick Long said in an e-mail that he could not comment on the matter. 

Garton’s Lawyer Says He’s Qualified to Coach

Reached via e-mail, Garton directed questions to his attorney, Enrico Mirabelli of Beerman Pritikin Mirabelli Swerdlove LLP.

“I have no comment to any matter involving my personal life,” he wrote. “Such matters are private and not appropriate for the media or personal attacks disguised as journalism.”

Mirabelli maintained that Garton is completely safe to coach kids, despite the conviction for unlawful use of a weapon, and argued that he had been vetted to coach and deemed qualified by the AYSO. 

“Ryan has been an excellent coach for five years,” he said. “His unfortunate incident in no way reflects on his abilities as a coach.”

“If I had an 8-year old, would I have an objection to Ryan being his coach? Absolutely not,” Mirabelli said.