Little League Coach Accused of Molestation

An assistant Little League coach was charged Friday with 12 felony counts of molesting two 11-year-old boys, and officials say he may have molested others.

Police looking for Donald David Brunk, 26, of Whittier on a report of child molestation found him Wednesday at Jerome Park inside a locked Little League concession booth with a child believed to be a second victim, said Santa Ana Sgt. Bob Clark.

“We know of two other possible victims,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Camille Hill, who filed the complaint in Orange County Superior Court. “There’s a possibility that we will be adding additional charges.”

Brunk began coaching last spring for the Reds, a Southeast League team of 10- and 11-year-old boys in Santa Ana. David Silva, the league president, said Brunk had a good rapport with the boys and seemed dedicated, because he came all the way from Whittier to work with children who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods touched by violence.

Silva said Brunk submitted a letter of resignation to the league Monday, saying he had accepted a position as vice president of the Garry Templeton League, also in Santa Ana.

Clark said the first victim told his mother about the abuse in November, and she called investigators. But they knew only that the man’s name was “Don” and that he was a coach with a baseball league. Investigators told the woman to call them if she ever heard from the man or saw him again.

On Wednesday, Brunk phoned the woman’s house looking for her son and said he was coming over, Clark said. The mother immediately called police, but by the time they arrived at the home, Brunk was gone.

Children playing nearby described the car for police and said the man had gone to Jerome Park with a boy they knew.

“He picked up another boy,” Clark said. “Maybe when the one couldn’t go, the other one did.”

At 4:30 p.m., police found Brunk’s car at the park in the 2100 block of West McFadden Avenue, and a park ranger told them Brunk and the boy were inside the locked booth, used to sell concessions during baseball games. Brunk was given a key to the booth last summer, a Little League president said.

“I don’t know whether you could call it a stroke of luck or not, but talking to some of those other kids in the area led them to Jerome Park,” Clark said. “This is a very dangerous individual preying on small children. We were very fortunate--and so were the parents, the children, and everyone concerned--that we caught this guy.”

Brunk is charged with lewd acts involving one boy between July 1 and Aug. 31, 1995, and one count of kidnapping him for the purposes of child molestation. He also is charged with kidnapping and molesting the second boy on Wednesday.

Brunk could face up to 25 years to life in prison, Hill said.

His arrest shook local Little League managers, one of whom said the league can do little to prevent such acts. Sometimes, even a child molestation conviction is not enough to refuse an applicant, said Don Beichley, 69, district administrator of Little League’s District 62, which includes cities that neighbor Santa Ana.

Beichley said a coach successfully sued a league in central Orange County years ago for firing him after learning that he had been convicted of child molestation. But a judge ruled in the coach’s favor, saying he already had paid his debt to society.

“The parents need to get to know the managing coaches of their teams by attending team meetings and practices,” Beichley said. “What we endeavor to do is, at the practice, there is some parent or some adult in attendance so they can observe what’s going on. “

The acts of which Brunk is accused did not happen during Little League games.

Brunk, who has no criminal record in the area, works for Medi-Van Ambulette Corp. in Orange as a driver, and is an only child who has lived with his parents all his life, according to a neighbor.

He is being held without bail at the Santa Ana Detention Facility.

Concerned parents or anyone with additional information are asked to contact Investigator Julio Jaramillo of the Santa Ana Police Department Sex Crimes Unit, at (714) 647-5162.

Times staff writer Tina Nguyen contributed to this story.