SALINAS – Richard Douglas Aldrete, a former San Francisco Giants minor league player turned revered youth softball coach, was taken into custody on Wednesday after being sentenced to two years in the California Department of Corrections and ordered to register as a sex offender for engaging in sex acts with a minor.
Aldrete, 58, of Monterey, met “Jane Doe” through his private coaching business when she was 14 years old, according to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office. He coached her for several years, and when she was 17, he began making sexual advances toward her and offering her drugs and alcohol. After a time of resisting his pressure, Doe did give in to his requests.
During the sentencing, Judge Stephanie Hulsey noted that Aldrete had established a position as a mentor and role model in the community for young softball players and that he used that status to have sex with Doe when she was 17 and he was a married man in his 50s.
Judge Hulsey imposed the requirement that Aldrete register as a sex offender due to his violation of the trust of his students and their parents.
Aldrete is a Monterey High School graduate who excelled in football and baseball. He went on to play baseball at the University of California, Berkeley, and was selected by the San Francisco Giants in 1987 in round 31 of the amateur draft. His older brother Mike Aldrete — currently a first-base coach for the Oakland A’s — was at that time a first baseman for the Giants.
Rich Aldrete spent nearly a decade in the minor leagues, including for the San Jose Giants. He was a replacement player during the 1995 Major League Baseball strike though he never played an official MLB game.
Aldrete played independent minor league baseball for the Salinas Spurs in the 1990s before becoming a hitting coach for boys and girls. In 2010 he became CSU Monterey Bay’s first baseball coach when it transitioned to Division II. Aldrete later became an assistant coach at Santa Catalina School in Monterey.
The case was investigated by officers Austin Scaggs and Anthony Avila of the Salinas Police Department, as well as District Attorney Investigator Pablo Andrade. Jane Doe was assisted by Victim Advocate Kristen Peterson.
Sports Writer John Devine contributed to this story.
Source: www.mercurynews.com