JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Former Major League Baseball player Austin Maddox, who had a brief stint pitching for the Boston Red Sox in 2017, was arrested in Florida in what authorities are calling a “child snatching operation.”
Maddox was one of 27 people arrested late last month as part of a multi-agency operation, Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters said. They are accused of having sex online with people they thought were children, officials said.
“Austin Maddox, a former Red Sox MLB player, traveled with the intent to engage in sexual activity with a 14-year-old child,” Waters said at a news conference Monday.
Indictment against Austin Maddox
Maddox, 33, began communicating with an undercover officer posing as an underage girl on April 28, according to an arrest report. He expressed his intention to have sex with the girl even after she told him she was 14, officials said.
Maddox agreed to meet the girl at a prearranged location, where he was arrested by law enforcement, authorities said.
Video released by the sheriff’s office showed an officer knocking Maddox to the ground.
“Maddox resisted arrest until our K-9 became involved,” the video said.
He is charged with four felonies, including traveling to a meeting after using a computer to solicit a child. He is being held in jail on a $300,000 bond. His attorney did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment from The Associated Press.
Austin Maddox career with the Red Sox
Maddox played college ball for the University of Florida and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2012. He made his major league debut with the team in 2017 after several years in the minors. According to Baseball Reference, he appeared in 13 games for Boston in 2017, throwing 17 innings.
He spent about three months on the Red Sox roster before returning to the minors to recover from shoulder injuries. In 2019, he was fired from the team.
