Former Major League Baseball player Rich Butler and his wife are facing fraud charges in connection with an alleged $60,000 scheme targeting the families of youth baseball players.
Butler is accused of collecting almost $60,000 from families for baseball training services that were never rendered. He and his wife, Michelle, have been charged with uttering a forged document, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, and fraud exceeding $5,000.
According to CityNews, Butler, a Frankford resident who attended Toronto’s East York High School. He played for his hometown Blue Jays in 1997 and the Tampa Bay Rays in 1998 and 1999 over three Major League seasons. Since 2023, Rob has reportedly been the manager of the Canadian Baseball League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.
How was the alleged crime committed?
Durham Regional Police claim that after families registered their kids for the 2025 baseball season, they submitted registration money to accounts linked to the Ontario Devil Rays, a Bowmanville-based baseball club for players aged 10 to 18. Instead of funding training, the money was allegedly moved to other Butler-related accounts.
BlogTO and CBC report that families who enrolled their children in the Ontario Devil Rays program allegedly received a message from a lawyer on Oct. 19, 2025, stating that the company was closing due to “financial problems and bankruptcy.”
Investigators later found that the lawyer’s identity “had allegedly been used without his knowledge or permission, and no bankruptcy or insolvency proceedings were initiated.”
Between April 1 and Oct. 31 of last year, approximately $60,000 in registration fees was deposited into a bank account and was allegedly later transferred to other accounts associated with Rich and Michelle Butler.
Rich Butler played 7 games for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1997, 72 for the Tampa Bay Rays in 1998, and 7 more for the Rays in 1999. He batted .223 with 7 home runs and 22 RBI over those three seasons. Butler played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, a minor league team, in 2001 and 2002 after his Major League career. His brother, Rob Butler, also played for the Blue Jays in 1993 – the year the team won the World Series – 1994, and 1999 and one season with the Philadelphia Phillies, in 1997.