On July 10, 2018, fifty-three-year-old Richard Allen Gallegos was arrested for multiple counts of child molestation stemming from incidents which allegedly occurred between 2009 and early 2011. Gallegos, a Phoenix resident, has club baseball ties to the East Valley and city of Phoenix. The ages of the victims at the time of the alleged offenses were 11 to 14 years of age.
Gallegos was the subject of a Chandler Police investigation in 2009 for his alleged behavior towards children. During this time, Gallegos helped coach a club baseball team in Ahwatukee and volunteered as a baseball coach at Seton Catholic Preparatory High School in Chandler. Detectives at the time did not have enough evidence to charge Gallegos with a crime.
In June of 2018, a former player on the club team Gallegos helped coach contacted the Chandler Police Department and disclosed multiple sexual encounters with Gallegos. A second former player came forward as well and disclosed sexual encounters with Gallegos. Investigators are still determining if Gallegos continued to coach baseball, or interacted with children in the capacity as a coach or instructor, after 2011.
Gallegos was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on three counts of Molestation of a Child (F2), five counts of Sexual Conduct of a Minor (F2), and two counts of Attempted Sexual Conduct with a Minor (F3).