Baseball coach listed sex offender

OTSEGO, Mich. (WOOD) - A local summer baseball league coach was been removed from his position Friday after school officials found out he was listed on the Michigan State Sex Offender Registry.

37-year old Lawrence Thomas-Knox Montgomery had been coaching an Otsego summer baseball team for about a week.

A parent tipped off school officials that Montgomery was listed as a sex offender. He's been listed since 1996 for accosting a child for immoral purposes.

The registry shows he is compliant. He checks in with law enforcemnet when he is supposed to and has kept his address current.

Parents of the the Otsego Community Education Baseball Program were surprised to hear about Montgomery's past.

The news left many doubting the diligence of the school which is charge of screening adults involved with the league.

"They do have access to that type of information," Adam Campbell, parent of a baseball player said. "You would think they would do at least some sort of check."

The Otsego School District screens volunteer coaches for the community education league and said there was some confusion over how he was overlooked in the screening process.

"It's possible it could've been lost in the shuffle," Otsego Public Schools Director of Instruction Dan Bushouse said.

According to Bushouse, the school does hundreds of criminal background checks a year and doesn't know exactly how Mongomery was overlooked.

He believes the answer may lay in the way Montgomery filled out his volunteer application.

"The gentleman put his name down as the assistant coach and his father was listed as the coach of the team." Bushouse said. "They both have the same name."

But he is unsure whether or not Montgomery's father was actually involved with the league or not.

It is unclear if Montgomery broke any laws in seeking out the volunteer position with the league.