Local Baseball Coach Guilty of Molesting Children

A Manchester man who used to coach Seacoast-area baseball players was found guilty in U.S. District Court Friday on three counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possession of child pornography.

Robert Joubert, 60, who taught at the Seacoast Baseball Academy and instructed athletes in Hampton, North Hampton, Portsmouth, Rye, Exeter and Stratham, was on trial for molesting two boys in Concord and Pembroke in the 1990s.

York, Maine, police began investigating Joubert in March 2012 after the department received an e-mail from a New Hampshire resident claiming that Joubert — who was teaching at the York-based Seacoast Baseball Academy at the time — "had a history of inappropriate contacts with children," according to U.S. Attorney John P. Kacavas.

"The ensuing investigation led to interviews with numerous young men who told authorities that Joubert had sexually assaulted them," said Kacavas, who said the documented sexual assaults stretched as far back as in the 1980s.

Joubert's property was searched in June 2012, and authorities found numerous photographs and videotapes depicting adolescent boys. One of the tapes contained film of Joubert sexually molesting a young boy he had been coaching.

That victim testified during Joubert's federal trial, claiming Joubert had sexually assaulted him multiple times over a two-year period, according to Kacavas.

Kacavas issued a statement Friday praising the jury's decision to convict the former coach.

"This defendant is a quintessential predator," said Kacavas. "He deliberately sought out and insinuated himself into the lives of the most vulnerable young boys, gaining their trust by portraying himself as a coach and father figure. He then betrayed that trust by sexually exploiting those boys to produce child pornography. Identifying, finding, and prosecuting predators like the defendant has been, and will continue to be, among the highest priorities of my office.”

Joubert's sentencing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Feb. 18.

Kacavas said criminal charges related to this investigation are also still pending against Joubert in Hillsborough and Merrimack counties.

The federal case against Joubert was built in partnership with investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Concord Police Department, The Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office, Manchester Police Department, and the York Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Helen Fitzgibbon prosecuted the case.