Utah conference responds to arrest of former coach charged with child sex crimes
Nov 21, 2024, 5:48 PM | Updated: 8:22 pm
WEST VALLEY CITY – More information is emerging about a former Utah youth football coach, now in jail arrested on child sex charges.
Before the latest charges, he had a lengthy criminal history and passed a background check to be able to coach. The league he coached for is now responding.
Ute Conference Football is now saying they knew about his prior criminal history, and despite what it says about their requirements posted on the Little League website, they said he was good to coach. But they did remove him mid-season once they learned of the sexual allegations that landed him in jail.
The coaching badge and other photos posted on 48-year-old Jeffrey Alsop’s public Facebook page show he coached part of the season in Murray for the Ute Conference, Utah youth football league.
Last week, officers with the West Valley City Police Department arrested Alsop on charges of progressively sexually abusing a teenage girl over the last three years at multiple locations, including inside his home and his work in Murray. Prosecutors are now charging him with 18 felonies of forcible sex abuse.
“We absolutely think he’s an ongoing risk and that’s why we asked for a no-bail hold,” Sim Gill, Salt Lake County District Attorney, said.
Learning about the allegations, the Ute Conference removed Alsop as coach, but before then he also had a lengthy criminal history with drugs, a car break-in, joyriding, and attempted possession of forger writing/device, among other felonies and misdemeanors from 1995 to 2005. Some charges were dismissed, but others he pleaded guilty to, like illegal possession of a controlled substance in 1999.
When KSL TV talked to Ute Conference Executive Director Jeff Gorringe over the phone about the charges, he said Alsop passed their background check, even though one of the Ute Conference policies to disqualify a coach reads: “If I have any conviction (including a guilty plea or plea in abeyance or a plea of nolo contendere) for drug or alcohol related offenses (excluding Class B or C DUI convictions), irrespective of the date or whether the conviction was for a felony or misdemeanor.”
When KSL TV asked the director about Alsop’s charges, he said, “The charges go back over 10 years”, “we give people second chances,” and “our attorney says we did everything perfectly.”
When KSL TV asked if Gorringe had a message for parents about Alsop, he said, “No, they should be thanking me that he was removed swiftly.”
Prosecutors haven’t connected any children Alsop coached to the abuse, but they’re not ruling that out. They’re encouraging any potential victims to come forward.
