Ceres Dolphins Swim Team coach faces misdemeanor charge

The longtime head coach of Ceres Dolphins Swim Team has been arrested on suspicion of having inappropriate communications with a minor.

Police identified the coach in a news release as 51-year-old Ceres resident Tracy Bull. Detective Sgt. Danny Vierra said the allegations involve Bull in his role as head coach of the team and one of its teenage swimmers. He declined to say more about the swimmer other than he or she is 14 to 17 years old.

Vierra declined to describe the nature of the communications to safeguard the investigation as police determine if there are instances involving other children. Vierra said Bull is a prominent high school and youth coach, who has coached swimming, basketball and water polo in Ceres and surrounding communities.

“At this point,” Vierra said, “we are keeping (the details) very vague.” He said police plan to say more once they are confident there are no other potential victims.

Vierra said Bull was booked at the Stanislaus County Jail on Wednesday on a misdemeanor of annoying or molesting a child under the age of 18. He said the misdemeanor involves communication — such as texts, notes or verbal comments — designed to stimulate the sexual interest of the adult or the child.

Vierra said Bull was released from jail after posting $1,000 bail. He said the matter was reported to police late Tuesday, and Bull was interviewed and arrested Wednesday afternoon.

Bull could not be reached for comment.

Bull coached boys basketball and water polo at Ceres High School during the school year that just ended, according to Ceres Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Jay Simmonds. He said Bull will not be coaching for the district in the future.

The Ceres Dolphins board has suspended Bull from coaching pending the outcome of the police investigation and board members plan to discuss Bull’s future with the team, board president John Silveria said. He said the board plans to meet with swimmers’ parents Friday. He added that the plan is for the team to complete the final month of its four-month season.

“We were all shocked and completely caught off guard,” Silveria said about the allegation and arrest. “We (board members) are all volunteers and parents. We’ve never been presented with a situation like this.” He said he believes Bull has been head coach for about a decade. He said Ceres requires the team’s head coach to undergo fingerprinting and a background check and nothing ever came up regarding Bull.

The Ceres Dolphins has been in existence for several decades and this season has roughly 170 boys and girls from 5 to 18 years of age. The team swims at the Ceres High School pool. Silveria said the swimmers are primarily from Ceres but also Modesto, Turlock and other surrounding communities.

“The team has been around for decades,” said the 40-year-old Silveria. “My father swam for the team.”

Silveria said the swim team gives children the opportunity to participate in a team sport. He said a lot of the swimmers also swim at their high schools and some go on to earn swimming scholarships to colleges. Silveria said he hopes this incident does not tarnish a program that has meant so much to so many families over the decades.

Parent Wilma O’Neill said the worst behavior she observed with Bull is he sometimes played favorites among his swimmers. She also said he made corny jokes with the kids. “I’m surprised,” she said. “... It’s got to be a mistake.”

The news release said police are “determining if there are any other victims that need to come forward” and ask anyone with information regarding this incident to call Detective Amador at 209-538-5729 or Detective Quiroz at 209-538-5638.

This story was originally published June 15, 2016 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Ceres Dolphins Swim Team coach faces misdemeanor charge."