A former Major League Baseball player was arrested in Florida as part of what authorities described as a “child predator operation.”
Austin Maddox, a pitcher who briefly played for the Boston Red Sox in 2017, was among 27 people who were taken into custody in a multi-agency underage sex sting last month, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said Monday. Maddox “traveled with the intent of engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old child,” Waters said at a news conference about the operation.
The 33-year-old allegedly started communicating with an undercover agent posing as a teenage girl on April 28, according to an arrest report cited by the Associated Press. He allegedly expressed intent to have sex with the girl even after learning that she was 14.
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He was arrested at a location where he had arranged to meet the girl, authorities said.
According to a video from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Maddox “resisted arrest, until our K-9 got involved.”
Maddox is charged with four felony counts including traveling to meet after using a computer to solicit a child and he is now being held on a $300,000 bond. His defense attorney James Hill told the AP that Maddox will plead not guilty and intends to fight the allegations.
Maddox was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2012. He played in the minor leagues for several years before making his major league debut in 2017, though he was soon on his way back to the minors after just a few months to recover from injuries to his shoulder. The Red Sox released him in 2019.
