The Howell Area Parks and Recreation Authority said it had received no complaints about Jacob David Sampson, 36, of Howell — charged in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan with committing child sex crimes between July 2024 and July 2026 — while he was a co-ed soccer coach on his children’s soccer teams.
HAPRA in a statement also said Sampson coached during the 2023-25 seasons, and that the complete background checks it ran on him came back clean.
“These federal charges have nothing to do with Mr. Sampson’s service as a volunteer coach at HAPRA,” the recreation organization said in a statement. “… There were no red flags disclosed in these background investigations that would have raised to HAPRA any concerns with permitting Mr. Sampson to be a volunteer soccer coach on his children’s soccer teams.”
According to news reports, Sampson is accused of sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl while she stayed at his home, and then sharing recordings of the assault by computer.
A warrant was executed on July 21 at his home while Sampson, his wife, and their three children — ages 3, 6, and 9 — were there. According to reports, Sampson voluntarily agreed to be interviewed, and he went on to tell investigators that he had saved child pornography images and videos to a Dropbox account; that he used various platforms to find child pornography from other users; that he accessed dark net sites to view child pornography; and that he was primarily interested in females aged 6-13.
HAPRA said it “diligently runs a complete background check on any proposed volunteer initially and ever second year thereafter while they continue to volunteer as a HAPRA coach.”
HAPRA said the initial background check on Sampson was done in 2023, and the follow-up in 2025, and that there “were no red flags disclosed in these background investigations that would have raised to HAPRA any concerns with permitting Mr. Sampson to be a volunteer soccer on his children’s soccer teams.”
HAPRA said it will cooperate with any federal, state, and local requests for information regarding Sampson.
Sampson is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Bay City on Aug. 11.
