Umpire allegedly groped girls at softball game
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

Parents, coaches and league officials call the June 3 arrest of an umpire officiating for a girls' softball tournament in Camarillo on suspicion of groping young players "bizarre" and "totally out of character."

Stephen Darrick Turner, a 44year-old Santa Paula resident, was arrested during the Sunday morning game between two 14andunder teams at Adolfo Camarillo High School after parents accused him of inappropriately touching the players.

He has been charged with child molestation and lewd acts upon a child, according to sheriff's Capt. Jerry Hernandez, who confirmed that two girls, ages 12 and 14, were involved.

Turner is in custody in county jail in lieu of $170,000 bail.

The mid-game arrest garnered national attention and has since been widely circulated in the media.

Turner, according to officials with the Southern California Amateur Softball Association, has worked as an umpire for nearly 10 years and is considered a good official.

"Stephen is a very, very nice gentleman," said Linda Henry, a deputy commissioner of the Southern California ASA.

"He has been umpiring in Southern California for many, many years and this is very shocking, very surprising."

Turner's arrest came on the second day of the two-day tournament hosted by the Camarillo All-Star Softball team. The tournament included a number of other Southern California All-Star teams.

Two umpires officiate each tournament game, with one behind home plate and the other standing in the infield.

According to Kim Crawford, mother of a girl playing for a San Clemente team, Turner was arrested about halfway through the Sunday game between teams from San Clemente and Five Cities.

Crawford said she was told by her daughter during the game that Turner, the infield umpire, had touched her inappropriately while she was a runner on second base.

Crawford said that as her daughter was talking to her, she looked up to find Turner and saw him on third base. She said he was standing "up against" another San Clemente player who was also on the base. "He also had his hand all over her rear end," Crawford said.

Upset by what she saw, Crawford said she yelled at the home plate umpire to stop the game and within a few minutes an off-duty police officer at the tournament escorted Turner from the field and away from parents.

Detectives with the Ventura County Sheriff's Department's major crime unit interviewed Turner, the players and parents.

"They interviewed the witnesses, the victims and the suspect," said Hernandez. "A combination of all of that gave them probable cause to arrest him."

Crawford said girls who played in a game the day before had come forward with similar accusations. She said Turner, umpiring behind home plate at the Saturday game, had also touched girls inappropriately.

Crawford said she learned Turner had been previously warned about inappropriate actions by the tournament's head umpire.

"Girls clearly complained about this man and the league knew about it, and this man should have never been on that field on Sunday," Crawford said.

Steven Monson, an associate commissioner of the Southern California ASA, said his office was still investigating what had happened. He would not comment on whether tournament officials knew of complaints about Turner prior to Saturday's game.

The ASA is the nationwide governing body for softball, similar to what Little League is for youth baseball. Monson said the tournament was not an official ASA event.

Although the ASA requires all softball coaches to pass a nationwide background check, Monson said, umpires are not put through a similar screening process.

"Background checks only catch people who have already been caught and convicted, and he has no record so that would not have made any impact on this case," Monson said.

Aside from a few moving violations, Turner's only conviction was in 1995 for drunk driving.

Monson and Henry said they were surprised by the accusations against Turner.

"When something like this happens, everyone gets extremely emotional," Henry said. "We need to be sure Stephen is given his due process, and I can't imagine something like this happening right out on the field in open public."

Monson said he was "devastated" for Turner's family and that Turner had never been accused of inappropriate activity during his time as an umpire.

Turner is scheduled to appear in court July 12 for an early disposition hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence and witness testimony to move forward with a jury trial.