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A Univision report saying young athletes were without food or supervision at a Homestead baseball stadium program leads to several investigations.
BY CHRISTINA VEIGA
cveiga@MiamiHerald.com
Homestead police and the Florida Department of Children and Families were investigating a program at the Homestead baseball stadium on Wednesday following a report on Spanish-language TV station, Univision, that young athletes are being housed in the stadium without enough food or supervision.
The baseball stadium is city-owned and has been leased to Spanish-language TV lawyer John H. Ruiz, of La Ley Sports, since July 2011.
Ruiz said Wednesday that in February he sub-leased four of the stadium’s fields to a Canadian business called Gigantes Baseball Group, which recruits young players from Venezuela. They have been staying overnight at the stadium as part of a baseball program.
“It has nothing to do with my organization, other than the fact that they lease from us,” Ruiz said.
Gigantes could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
One of the boys who said he was enrolled in the program told Univision last week that he was only given a small bowl of cereal and a light lunch — Univision showed a picture of a sandwich on a round bun and an apple — while living at the stadium. The boys were not served dinner, he said.
“We found out after the fact and when that happened, our people fed them,” Ruiz said.
A spokesman for the Department of Children and Families said Gigantes is not a licensed child care facility and that there is a mix of adults and kids at the facility.
“We are investigating based on a call we received today,” DCF Communications Director Joe Follick said Wednesday.
City spokeswoman Begoñe Cazalis said a resident informed the city of the issue.
“The City immediately dispatched staff to the location and identified that some of the allegations were true,’ she wrote in the email to The Herald on Wednesday.
She added: “The proper government agencies have been notified and are conducting a review, including Miami Dade-County Fire Rescue, Homestead Police Department, Homestead Code Compliance and the Department of Children & Families. Until those reviews are completed the City will have no further comment.’’
Cazalis said city attorneys are reviewing La Ley’s lease to determine whether the company violated its rental agreement by sub-leasing the fields and allowing kids to be housed there. The city and La Ley have been at odds recently after the company failed to carry insurance on the property, as required by the lease. The city waived the first six months of coverage, absorbing the approximately $60,000 in insurance premiums, and the two sides have been negotiating over the premiums due since January.
Homestead police were conducting interviews early Wednesday evening, and have declined to comment.
Miami Herald staff reporter Carol Marbin-Miller contributed to this report.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/25/2768039/homestead-baseball-program-under.html#storylink=cpy
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