Youth Sports Group’s Honored Coach Faces Crack Cocaine Charges Football Association Was Unaware Of Winfrey’s Arrest Last Month

Michael Winfrey was voted Coach of the Year by his peers in the Spokane Youth Sports Association football league four years ago.

Today, he’s charged with selling crack cocaine, and his 17-year volunteer coaching career is in jeopardy.

Winfrey was arrested in the Valley last month after he sold five rocks of crack cocaine to a carnival worker at the Spokane Interstate Fair, sheriff’s deputies said.

Winfrey, 42, was booked into the county jail on Sept. 9 on one count of delivery of a controlled substance and was released on his own recognizance the next day, records state.

Deputies said a woman who worked at a ring-toss game bought the crack from Winfrey at the request of a sheriff’s department informer, whom she didn’t know.

The informer gave the woman, Tracy Sleep, $100 to make the buy, according to records. The money was supplied by deputies, and the serial numbers were recorded.

Winfrey had the same $100 on him when he was arrested, deputies said. Sleep, unaware of the pending sting, also was arrested and charged with delivery of a controlled substance.

Spokane Youth Sports Association Executive Director Dwight Merkel said Friday association officials were unaware of Winfrey’s arrest. Winfrey continued coaching his team of seventh- and eighth-graders after his release.

“We were kind of in the dark in that respect,” Merkel said.

It was nearly a month before the association was tipped off that Winfrey was in some kind of trouble, Merkel said. “We got a phone call from a lady saying he had been arrested,” the director said.

The association investigated the woman’s claim, Merkel said.

Winfrey told the association he was stopped by police and “searched on his front porch,” Merkel said.

Association officials took Winfrey at his word and allowed him to coach the last two games of the season, Merkel said. “We had no way to check that out,” he said.

The charges filed against Winfrey are public records and available for inspection at Spokane County District Court.

Merkel said neither he nor his staff knew that. “We’re not familiar with the rules,” he said.

The parents of the players on Winfrey’s team weren’t told about the allegations against the coach, Merkel added.

“At that point it was all hearsay,” he said. “He hadn’t been convicted of anything yet.”

Attempts to reach Winfrey for comment Friday were unsuccessful.

Merkel said the coach has offered to quit if parents complain or the association asks him to step down.

The association is considering firing Winfrey because he lied about his arrest, Merkel said. “I thought he should have come forward with that information,” he said.

, DataTimes