RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — The city of Riviera Beach is responding after residents put the convicted offender status of their athletic director and former NFL player Abram Elam back into the spotlight this week.
Now the future of the Pop Warner youth football program in the city may be up in the air.
The city intends to continue participation in the Treasure Coast Conference Pop Warner program despite claims Elam may be unfit.
The program's president is raising questions about Elam's past. It involved a crime from 20 years ago.
Last week's City Commission meeting lasted more than four hours. One of the major topics of discussion centered on Elam, currently listed as the city's athletic director.
"I'm going to speak in reference to the young man AE," Mary Bram said. "We knew about this umpteen years and it's nothing in that file there that says he perpetrated that. And he went off to college to Notre Dame. We were very proud because that's what we do. We've all had hiccups along the way."
The hiccup she's referencing happened in 2002.
While playing college football at Notre Dame, Elam and three other players on the team were accused of sexually assaulting a woman off-campus. Elam was ultimately convicted of felony sexual battery and expelled. However, he went on to play professionally for the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs.
His record is still hard to ignore for some residents.
"Rumors going around that the city of Riviera Beach hired a registered sex offender to be around my grandchildren," Mary Williams said. "The city does not background check. Whoever hired this person needs to be fired. My grandchildren will not attend the city of Riviera Beach Rec program."
Riviera Beach Mayor Ronnie Felder said Elam has a track record of more than a decade working with the city and in partnership with the nonprofit, the Elam Foundation, he helped create.
"The point is I was assured by our chief that he'd been cleared," Felder said. "I think we all do have a past, and I just don't like when we try to bring each other down."
The Elam Foundation regularly hosts coaching clinics, football camps and an annual "Team Elam Day in the Park."
That record of service was top of mind when Chairpersonman Doug Lawson and Felder came to the defense of Elam.
"I will fight for him to the end," Felder said. "And I think it's just disappointing people will go to the lengths just to kill his name and kill his character."
In an email obtained by WPTV, Deputy City Manager Elizabeth Threatt McBride acknowledges Elam's sexual offender status but also adds the crime tied to it did not involve a child, meaning he wouldn't be in violation to Pop Warner rules.
"According to the guidelines from the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, anyone with any felony conviction, much less a conviction for a crime of violence, should be barred from association with any youth service organization," another email from Pop Warner League Executive Director John Butler to the city of Riviera Beach said.
The deputy city manager has indicated Riviera Beach will still participate in the Pop Warner League this season.