Ex-MLB Player and Wife Charged in $60K Youth Baseball Fraud
by Simon Kent · BreitbartEx-Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays player Richard Butler and his wife have been charged in connection with an alleged youth baseball training fraud scheme in Canada.
Between April 1 and Oct. 31 of last year, approximately $60,000 in registration fees for the 2025-2026 Ontario Devil Rays training program was allegedly deposited into a bank account associated with the program, police said in a news release Tuesday.
But funds were later transferred to other accounts associated with the accused couple — Michelle Butler, 52, and former big leaguer Richard Butler, 53, both of Frankford, Ontario.
The registration fees were allegedly not used for the program and the services as agreed on were not provided, police said.
CBC News notes families who paid the registration received an email on Oct. 19, 2025, saying the business had been dissolved due to financial hardship and claiming bankruptcy, police said.
But investigators later determined the lawyer’s name on the email “had allegedly been used without his knowledge or permission, and no bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings were initiated,” the release said.
The couple have now been charged with one count each of fraud over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 and uttering a forged document.
Global News reports Richard Butler, an Ontario native, played 86 games with the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays between 1997 and 1999, batting .223 with seven home runs and 22 runs batted in.
His brother, Rob Butler, appeared in 162 games over four seasons with Toronto and Philadelphia and was on the Blue Jays team that won the 1993 World Series.