The article in question was the Globe's coverage of former Baxter Springs teacher/coach Scott Madden's arrest on 15 felony counts after having sex with the underage girl and getting her pregnant.
The opening paragraphs are loaded with references that make it sound like the two were involved in an idyllic romance. It began "innocently enough" reporter Jeff Lehr writes; "text messages about baseball." He was "helping her with her hitting" at a business he ran that drew most of its business from younger people.
Or this paragraph:
They made a bet on an Oklahoma-Kansas game and she lost. When she asked what she owed him, he simply demurred and told her he liked her.
A later reference has the two sitting on swings after they had sex for the first time.
While the items were included in the probable cause affidavit, the failure to include Madden's age, the clientele of the business he operated and the relegation of the girl's subsequent pregnancy, with tests indicating a 99.99 percent probability that Madden is the father to the last few paragraphs of the story almost seem to be a 1940s way of telling the story- in those days when newspapers always blamed the underage girl for leading the man astray.
According to the affidavit, when the girl told Madden she was pregnant, he "freaked out" , gave her money to get an abortion (she was unable to do so because the pregnancy was too far along) and most tellingly, he asked her to tell her parents that she became pregnant after having sex with a random stranger at a party.
Some innocence.
Have the Globe's editors been living in a cave?
Scott Madden has been charged with 15 felonies and is free on $300,000 bond.
Madden, by the way, is 45 years old.
31 comments:
This is sick.
Send this to Jim Romenesko.
http://jimromenesko.com Look for contact info upper right corner. Link to your post on this for more hits.
Disgusting!
Kinda reads like one of Randy's books.
I know everyone involved. Good friends w the mother of victim. The Joplin Globes story was a disgrace. Thank you for this article.
I wish some of the other girls would come forward that he has molested over the years but in that small town people are to worried about what people will say and think about them..they ran him off from high school over allegations in 2007 there has always been talk around town about him...he needs to get life for stealing a kids innocence probably many more girls he is a predator and had the perfect business for it and just 300,000 bond is ridicules he must have got a property bond for 10 percent of the total this creep needs hung by the gonads and beat with a club...horrible excuse for a human being
I want to clarify something from the comment above. He was not "ran off" in 2007 by the Baxter Schools. They allowed him to resign even though the board had enough proof of a relationship with a student then to warrant a police investigation. They were notified by a parent of late night texts and earrings given to their daughter. This all could have ended back in 2007 if the administration and board would gave done what was morally and legally right!
Some of the comments after the Globe article were ridiculous. A lot of victim blaming, focusing on this 15 year old girl trying to "steal" a woman's husband. What those commenters don't understand is that this girl was just one of a long line of underage girls that he has lured into sex over the years. Had she not gotten pregnant, he would have gotten away this time as well and then he would likely be onto another girl within a few months. I don't care what her motivation was - she is 15 and not legally able to consent. He is 100% responsible for this.
Yes, and they accepted his resignation "with regrets". This is from the school board meeting minutes on 11/5/07:
"...Kim Wilson made a motion to add “with regrets” to the motion to accept the resignation of Scott Madden. Melanie Bingham seconded. Carried 6-1 with Chuck Sweeton voting nay..."
http://www.usd508.org/vnews/display.v/ART/46e6d41f02850
This girl was a victim, plain and simple! There has been stories for years and years. At the very least, when he was allowed to resign from the school that should have been enough proof to his wife and family that he was sick. This young girl did not harm his family, HE DID. And furthermore, if his wife would have done the right thing, this girl would never have been an issue for her family. The ball was dropped by his family, his wife, his friends, his victims (by not coming forward), and the BHS school system. I have no doubt that his business partners in the Hit Zone also knew of past allegations, yet he was left alone with many young girls and boys in that business. I know this because my son (who is of age) spent time there working on baseball fundamentals. This could have, and should have been stopped a long time ago. If Cherokee County does not throw the book at him, well then, they are indeed corrupt!
11:36 we are just lucky Bingham did not win prosecuting attorney I hope Coleman has the gumption to give him a hard long sentence this creep needs put to death maybe someone in jail will get him when he goes to the big house
Shame on you for blaming the girls for not coming forward. You do not know what they were going through nor their mental state to judge underage girls that were taken advantage of.
I'm so sad for both famlies
1:15, I agree with you. I cannot blame the other girls for coming forward, though I have heard that there may actually be some who are talking to authorities now that he has charges against him.
In many cases, these girls have a lot to lose by coming forward. And my understanding is that he intimidated them into not talking. There are enough people in the area that will scorn them that it takes a lot of courage to do that. Several are adults now and probably have families. They may just want to put this behind them.
I hope they speak up, but I can't blame them if they don't.
2:02, I agree with everything you said except that I cannot feel sorry for his wife. I could up until he had to resign in 2007, but after that, she willingly chose to be an enabler. Deluding yourself over personal matters is your choice. But when it involves a string of crimes against underage girls, then you are an accomplice. I feel horrible for his children. They don't deserve this and I hope that they can move on and maintain some sense of normalcy after their selfish dad is behind bars and out of their lives.
we are just lucky his latest victim had the courage and strong will to come forward my kids have told me that she is being ridiculed at school and shunned by some teachers it is a shame coming forward had to be a very hard thing to do...now hang him high
I feel for all the young girls he has molested. They are just girls. Who knows what he told them. I am sure they believed everything he said. Doesn't anyone remember what it is like to be young and impressionable.
I hope the Baxter School District is held accountable for ignoring his crimes for years and sweeping it under the rug to save the District. They could have put an end to it years ago. Even more disgusting, they were aware of his issues and contracted with the Hit Zone to train high school athletes. That is the kind of people educating the children of Baxter Springs!
This stuff happens. I had sex with a substitute while I was in high school. We are a strange nation. If the girl in the article was 17 years old it's illegal. If she's 18 she can get paid to do a porn shoots where's the line? And how did we arrive at that line? Furthermore, it's legal for her parents to sign documents marrying her off to a 45 year old man. So her parents can choose for her but she can't for herself?
It wasn't 100 years ago 12 year old girls were married off to older men. Did the moral imperative change or is the age of consent morally relative?
Some comments have been removed from this post. If you want to comment about this case, Mr. Madden, or the topic in general, please feel free to do so. If you want to talk about what school officials or board members should have done so when Mr. Madden was working there, please feel free to do so. If you want to write about anyone else who has not been accused of anything and does not play a part in making decisions that affect this particular case or similar cases, please feel free to leave your comment with the Joplin Globe or send me documentation. Thank you.
His daughter that had graduated last yr was coming to the school and going to victims classes...and following her around football games...calling her a liar.
In KS the consensual age for sex is 16. That is one reason some couldn't press charges. That is exactly what KBI told victims family.
If that girl is being shunned and ridiculed for coming forward, that is horrible. I'm not surprised because way too often women and girls are blamed for the crimes perpetrated against them, but I feel like I already know how this story goes... "I know his family, he is a good Christian..." or some similar line. Heard that a million times anytime you go to church with them or they were in a position of authority. People want to believe the best about people, and I get that, but this girl is a victim, plain and simple.
I do kind of agree with some of the comments about age of consent being relative. Some countries the age of consent can be around sixteen, or even they have certain exceptions like if the girl is technically underage but the guy is only a year or two older (meaning it would not have been punishable a year or two ago when both were underage). But the age difference plus the power differential is an abuse. The guy has family on top of it? How sad. Very selfish guy, look at how many lives he's ruined in the process.
That girl deserves respect and protection, not being made to feel bad. I have no doubt that the guy was a teenager emotionally, but she was a teenager in reality as well. It's taking advantage. All that stuff about trying to cover it up... what a horrible, selfish man. Only cared about himself.
p.s. I apologize for my rant about the failings of the school administrators being longer than the initial blog post. Oops. :)
Well said, 7:28.
USD 508 definitely has left itself open to litigation.
When Madden was a teacher and coach at BHS, his dalliances with students was the worst kept secret in Baxter. Seemingly everyone knew about the rumors. Then when he suddenly resigned in the middle of the school year without any warning nor any explanation, the assumption by everyone was that he was about to be arrested.
Then nothing.
No investigation, no questioning why a prominent teacher and coach left the school hanging in the middle of the school year. No inquiring why a career teacher/coach was not even attempting to get a job with another district and was instead choosing to struggle listlessly.
He obviously thought he would never get caught. Employers, coworkers, friends, and family all chose to look the other way, so why would that change? He knew that he was just so amazing that he could continue to woo these impressionable girls and dupe everyone else.
And he is absolutely right: he would not have gotten caught. Except he finally got a girl pregnant. Without that happening, I'm certain that he would still be preying on underage girls for years to come.
My heart is breaking for my home town of Baxter and the stain that this has left on it. This has been going on for a long time and Scott was able to get away with it for many reasons. People were afraid to get involved and report this. As a mother of a young girl that had a friend who was seeing Scott all I could think of was that this little girls daddy would probably beat her then do something worse to Scott. He made the girls feel special so they wouldn't tell on him. Shame on each of us adults who for many years knew about this and did nothing to stop it. Shame to the school officials who did nothing more than let him resign "with regrets". Shame on the families who didn't try to get this person some help. I know that we don't want to believe that someone we love would do something like this and for as long as it has been going on. But to hear rumors for this many years and still believe the lies he told them? Let this be a lesson to all of us. If we hear rumors of this sort of thing, maybe we should take a closer look, ask questions, not just sit back laugh and gossip. Everyone that knew about this should share a little blame, myself included for not doing more and letting this go on this long. Now there is an innocent baby born into this. I am grateful that the baby has a loving family that dotes on him and will be there for anything he needs. Bless them. Pray for them and all families included in this
But....seriously. Is ANYONE looking into the complete mismanagement of the district by Dennis Burke? Dennis is basically the Joe Paterno to Scott's Jerry Sandusky. He should not enjoy a retirement pension for the years of "service" where he built this culture of abuse. As the commentor at 7:28 said, this behavior wasn't only morally inept but ILLEGAL.
Kansas State Board of Education? Baxter Springs Police? Anybody?
Amen! Well said.
he was only jailed 4 days then when Cherokee county set bail at 300.000 he bailed out the same day must of put up a property bond
You might try a remedial reading course before once again voicing your monotonous enmity with the Globe, Randy.
The narrative lead makes clear, to anyone who can read beyond a third-grade level, what is going on is between a teen and an older man and that it's not right. His age and hers are clearly stated in the paragraphs following that lead.
There is no suggestion of romance. Competent readers' reaction was one of disgust with the suspect's alleged behavior, not the titillation you apparently experienced. Only a very sick mind would sense in this narrative something romantic.
The lead repeatedly cites an affidavit, which is an investigator's recounting of the girl's story. Are you saying the investigator is guilty of trying to make a romance out of a crime? I don't think so. They were attempting to show probable cause for his arrest.
I dated a teacher in high school. I was set up with him by another teacher. No one thought it was a big deal. Now that's all we see in the news.
This is a perfect example of a man-child who grew up thinking he was the greatest person ever. While in school, he was an athlete, had the sports car, and, oh, yes, his parents thought he walked on water. People treated him like he was extra-special, eye roll. The perfect storm. Man thinks he is better than the rest, can say and do whatever he wants, because he is above the rest. This is what happens when a person thinks he is above all reason, law, and consequences. I am literally appalled that his daughter, his wife, and his sister ALL harassed the victim. And, yes, the child was the victim!! They taunted her. They acted like spoiled little children who did not get their way. See the pattern? Shame on his wife for staying married to him. She is displaying to her children that their father's actions are worthy of love and devotion. Please. The entire situation disgusts me. No one is above the law. His actions should have been punishable for much longer. It's interesting that no one in his family seems to feel badly about the predatory actions of Scott. They seemed much more concerned about victim blaming, but those of us who have a soul and a conscious know better.
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