International Manhunt Underway For Coach John Hamilton

For 20 years, coach John Hamilton was a fixture in the Fort Hunt Area of Northern Virginia.

He was known not only as a baseball coach, but also as an umpire and someone parents could count on when a child needed a ride home. Hundreds of parents and kids knew him and supported his family's silk screening business.

But his warm personality and engaging smile belied a horrifying double life.

In early 2009, a 24-year-old man approached police and reported that he had been assaulted during a four-month period in 1997 when he was just 12 years old.

The man said that he had seen Hamilton at a local convenience store with a young boy, and the sight convinced him to come forward. Since then, nine others have come forward too.

Hamilton was arrested in May 2009 and charged with aggravated sexual battery and three counts of taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a supervisory relationship.

A grand jury indicted him, and a judge set bond, which was revoked when he contacted one of his alleged victims.  He was let out on bond a second time, but the judge didn't ask for his passport.

Hamilton was to enter a guilty plea on Oct. 7, 2009, that would have kept him in prison for decades. He failed to appear in court.

To quote a person close to the case, "It is clear that his plan was to get out and get lost."

The parent of one of the boys has told AMW.com that they were in court that day to see Hamilton plead guilty, and they were violated by him yet again when he did not show up.

Interpol Joins The Search

Police in Virginia say the "getting lost" was facilitated with the help of his mother, who not only posted cash bonds for him but expedited her passport request so she could travel too.

Cops say that the mother and son went to Frankfurt, Germany in September 2009; she returned, he did not. 

Now, Interpol has joined the worldwide manhunt.

An alert AMW tipster recently vacationing in Germany put Hamilton there in the town of Mercerberg.  Another possible hiding spot is Denmark.

For 20 years, Hamilton had access to hundreds of young boys, and law enforcement sources tell AMW that they want anyone who knows of Hamilton or his activities to please call 1-800-CRIME-TV.