President of northwest Houston little league club removed after thousands of dollars goes missing

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Who would steal from little league baseball kids? That's the question members of the Oaks Dads' Club, one of Houston's oldest youth sports league, is asking itself after ousting its own president over financial concerns.

The club, known as ODC, was founded more than 70 years ago to get neighborhood kids in Oak Forest, Timbergrove, and surrounding areas together to play baseball. It now also includes softball, soccer, and flag football.

Everyone is a volunteer, spending their own time and money to support their kids. For several years, John Barcelo was an integral part of the organization, rising up to president.

This week, a shocking email went out to the thousands of families who are part of the ODC. The board stated in the email that it was "making the decision to remove the president due to financial mismanagement concerns."

"Everyone goes through the seven stages of grief, right?" Colin Dodd, the interim president of ODC, said. "Oh, it can't be, I'm sad, and for a large group of people going through that."

Dodd would not speak to specifics, but multiple sources tell ABC13 that ODC is missing more than $50,000 dollars from its coffers.

"ODC is a very family-friendly, neighborhood oriented organization for baseball football soccer," attorney and fellow baseball dad Murray Newman said. "All the families know each other and it's very centralized to where we live. Our kids go to school together, dads are friends, so this really feels like a betrayal."

When the financial discrepancies were first noticed, the ODC board immediately retained attorneys, and a deeper background search on Barcelo yielded troubling findings.

"It's super tough, very tough, not easy, nobody was looking for this," Dodd said. "This is not what we thought. It was never the plan."

Court records show in 2018, Barcelo was charged with felony theft. He was accused of buying $294,000 of copper for his then employer, Tellepsen, then scrapping it for cash. In total, prosecutors allege Barcelo bilked Tellepsen out of more than $312,000.

In 2021, Barcelo pled guilty to the charges, and was sentenced to 10 years of deferred adjudication, in essence, probation. In 2024, court records show his sentence was terminated early.

"You have to go through all these trainings to be a coach, because they're usually worried you're going to do something to the kids," Newman said. "But they weren't really screening to see what you might do to finances. It's out of left field, to use baseball term."

On Friday, nobody answered the door at Barcelo's Cypress area home, and he is currently not facing any criminal charges. However, attorneys with the Oaks Dads' Club are working to turn all documents over to the Harris County District Attorney's office.

They are also reworking their screening procedures, something that wasn't an issue for 70 years.

"If you see something, say something, even if you're not sure," said Dodd, "We owe it to our kids."

As the adults work through this unforeseen situation, ODC itself continues to thrive. Dozens of kids and their families piled onto the baseball fields on Friday evening, ready to play ball. Opening ceremonies for the season will take place as scheduled on Saturday.

Baseball will continue.

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