Former Little League district administrator pleads guilty to child pornography

HAMILTON - A former Ohio Little League administrator pleaded guilty to child pornography charges Monday in Butler County.

Roger Fox Jr., 50, of Hamilton, pleaded guilty to seven counts of pandering sexually oriented-matter involving a minor, court records showed. Three of of the charges are second-degree felonies that carry a maximum penalty of eight years in prison.

A sentencing hearing is set for April 29.

Fox, who was an administrator for District 9 for the Ohio Little League, was indicted in December 2012 and was arrested Dec. 28, 2012. Charges alleged that Fox was involved in incidents beginning in March 2010 to August 2012. He has no prior criminal record.

Jennifer Muench-McElfresh, Butler County assistant prosecutor of child assault, said Fox downloaded seven child pornography images to his personal computer, and was charged with two counts for each image - possession and downloading.

Fox was arrested by Hamilton police after another agency, which Muench-McElfresh declined to identify, provided information on its investigation of Fox.

"As far as we know, the investigation did not identify any children from Little League baseball," Muench-McElfresh said. "All the images were of unknown children he downloaded from the Internet."

Fox did not show any pornographic material or images to Little League players, Muench-McElfresh said.

Ohio District 9 serves Butler, Warren, Clinton, Hamilton, Clermont, Brown and Highland counties.

Steve Monnin, president of West Side Little League in Hamilton, called Fox Monday and left him a voicemail.

“I told him he is a great friend and that I’ll be praying for him,” Monnin said. “I see that he avoided a trial, which I’m glad he did. I have a lot of respect for that instead of dragging it out.”

District 9’s current administrator is Kevin Carey. All Little League coaches, members, volunteers or hired employees submit to background checks, Monnin said.

District administrator’s plan tournaments and attend national Little League meetings on rules and guidelines among other administrative duties. There are a dozen Little League organizations within District 9.