ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A children’s baseball coach from Wisconsin is being held on no bond Thursday evening after Orange County deputies arrested him for inappropriately touching young boys.
Nicholas Groth, 26, admitted to deputies that he touched three boys’ buttocks Sunday night while in the pool at Disney’s Pop Century Resort, according to an arrest report.
The victims are 7, 12 and 13 years old, deputies said.
Groth was in town for a baseball tournament with a team of young boys, deputies said.
Many of the victims described throwing a ball in the pool with Groth and him grabbing their buttocks, deputies said.
One of the boys told Groth to “please stop” when Groth grabbed the boy’s buttocks several times, deputies said.
At one point, Groth asked two boys what they were talking about and asked if they were going to tell on him, according to the arrest report.
One boy was able to identify Troth at the ESPN Wide World of Sports field, according to an arrest report.
When he was questioned by a man at the pool, Groth said he was a “14U baseball coach” and would never touch a child.
Several children pointed at Groth and said he was "acting weird and touching our butts,” according to an arrest report.
During the investigation, he said he was sorry for what he had done and it was not his personality, according to the arrest report.
“During the interview, Groth appeared to be in a mental struggle. He didn't answer questions regarding if he touched the children's buttocks in the pool with direct answers, but rather took some time to reply. His responses disturbed me, and I asked if he was on medicine or if he had mental illness,” an investigator wrote in the police report.
Groth was arrested. It was the second arrest in the last week involving adults touching children at Walt Disney World in the past week.
Groth, who is being held on no bond is charged with five counts of lewd or lascivious molestation.
Groth lives in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and is a coach for Rally Baseball, deputies said in the report.
Cox Media Group
