Former MLB outfielder Chad Curtis out of prison after serving 7 years for sex assaults

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (NewsNation Now) — Chad Curtis, the Major League Baseball player who was convicted of sexually assaulting teenage girls, is out of prison.

Online state prison records show Curtis, 52, was paroled Sept. 22 after serving his minimum sentence of seven years.

Reached at his home in metro Grand Rapids Sunday, Curtis told NewsNation affiliate WOOD-TV he was “trying to be a productive person.”

He was convicted in 2013 of sexually assaulting four girls at Lakewood High School, where he was working as a part-time weight trainer, in 2011 and 2012.

In 2017, a judge told Curtis to pay one of the victims $1.8 million as the federal civil lawsuit she brought against him went to trial. While testifying in court, the victim said she had become close to Curtis because he was her weight training coach and their shared faith, and because she was friends with Curtis’ daughter, who was her age.

Lawsuits filed by two other victims were settled earlier in 2017.

In 2018, another federal lawsuit claimed Curtis and his ex-wife had conspired to hide assets so he would not have to make payouts to his victims. An attorney for the victim who was awarded $1.8 million alleged that phone calls recorded while Curtis was in jail showed Curtis transferred his assets into his ex-wife’s name, that they disposed of or liquidated many of them, and then that they tried to hide the cash from the state and from Curtis’ victims.

A judge later recommended the ex-wife, Candace Curtis, could be added to the lawsuits against him. She filed for bankruptcy the same that that ruling was issued.

Curtis has never admitted guilt. He appealed his conviction, but it was upheld in 2015.

Curtis played from 1992 to 2001, for the California Angels (now Los Angeles Angels), Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and the Texas Rangers.

NewsNation affiliate WOOD-TV contributed to this report.