INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A former Blue Springs youth soccer coach convicted of molesting three girls was sentenced to 15 years behind bars.
Richard G. Burroughs, 44, was sentenced in Jackson County Court on Monday morning. He had pleaded guilty in June to molesting two girls, ages 12 and 11, when they were at his house for a sleep-over with his daughter, and molesting a third girl, 12, at her home.
According to the probable cause statement, a 12-year-old girl told police Burroughs came into his daughter’s bedroom where she and his daughter were staying and touched her when he thought she was asleep. She says she woke up the next morning and told the daughter, who suggested she must have dreamed it. This occurred in October or November of 2011.
An 11-year-old told police she was at the computer at Burroughs’ house when he approached her, telling her he wanted to show her something on the computer. She says he rubbed his arm slowly down her chest.
The two victims spent the night together on New Year’s Eve, shared their stories and then decided to tell the school counselor.
During the police interview, Burroughs explained he covered the girls with a blanket in the middle of the night when the 12-year-old friend was sleeping over, but said his hand did not roam anywhere it shouldn’t. When asked by police if they could look at his computer, Burroughs said he should consult an attorney.
The mother of the 12-year-old girl says Burroughs has been coaching her daughter’s soccer team for four or five years and also coaches her softball team.
According to court documents, the third victim, a 13-year-old girl, came forward after seeing a report about Burroughs on the news. She told police that Burroughs had molested her while she was home alone sometime between December 2010 and January 2011.
“There can never be a penalty that can be tough enough, that’s really going to grapple with this issue,” Peters-Baker said in a statement when Burroughs pleaded guilty in June. “Our kids are so vulnerable and it’s our obligation to protect them. So we have the laws that we have and I will use those to the fullest of our ability.”
