Baseball coach accused of molestation disappears

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (KGO) -- Police are searching for a former high school baseball coach who has been charged with molesting one teen boy and secretly filming another in a bathroom in the East Bay.

The coach, 52-year-old Orinda resident Joel Kaufman, has disappeared. A $300,000 arrest warrant has been issued for Kaufman.

Kaufman is being charged with multiple counts, three of which are felony counts, Chad Mahalich, Deputy District Attorney of Contra Costa County, said.

Kaufman is charged with lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, lewd and lascivious acts on a child aged 14-15 and sexual penetration of an intoxicated or drugged person.

He's also being charged with two counts of misdemeanor child molestation and one count of unlawful video taping.

Police have searched in Orinda and San Leandro for Kaufman but have not been able to find him. It was quiet around his home in Orinda Thursday. Neighbors say Kaufman kept to himself and that they didn't really know him.

Kaufman owns Triple Play Batting Cages in San Leandro. He is the head coach of California Smoke Baseball Club, a travelling high school club.

Kaufman also coached at Bishop O'Dowd High School between 1999 and 2005. The Oakland Diocese said Thursday that no parents have come forward to say their son was abused, but police think there could be more victims.

Police are asking anyone who knows anything or who may have been a victim to please come forward.

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san leandro, orinda, children, sex crimes, sex offender, east bay news, amy hollyfield

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