LITTLE RIVER-ACADEMY - The mayor here is weary from media requests looking for any shred of information about William Thomas Jacobsen, the former youth baseball coach turned fugitive.

Mayor Ronnie White has shooed television news crews away from the baseball fields and admits being frustrated that Jacobsen is still at large.

U.S. marshals are looking for Jacobsen, 31, and his 57-year-old common-law wife, Marilyn Wesson. Law enforcement officials say Jacobsen and his wife left the area on June 21, four days before a warrant was issued charging him with aggravated sexual assault of a child.

The charges came about after accusations from a 13-year-old boy. At least three other children have come forward alleging abuse by Jacobsen.

Background checks on Jacobsen made by the volunteer fire department and the youth baseball league both came back clean, White said. He said he knows of nothing unusual that could have tipped off authorities earlier about the allegations.

“How do you prevent it when you run a background check and it comes back clear?” White said. “I think everybody is just kind of surprised with it all.”

Jacobsen lived on County Line Road near Rogers. A small travel trailer sits on the property today.

A search of the DPS sex offender database indicates that a sex offender may still live at Jacobsen’s former address. Bell County Sheriff officials confirmed it is his older brother, 33-year-old Steven Jacobsen, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl in November 2001.

It is unclear how Jacobsen may have gained the trust of people in the community so quickly. He had only been in the area for about a year.

Michelle Farrell, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Central Texas, said child predators often place themselves in a position where children look up to them.

“It’s easy to groom a child with attention or fun. With teenagers sometimes there is alcohol or illegal drugs,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a requirement to gain the trust of parents. Sometimes it isn’t, depending on the family.”

Last year Bell and Coryell counties had 410 cases of child sexual abuse, Ms. Farrell said.

Law enforcement officials believe Jacobsen and his wife may be in the Houston-Galveston area and may be traveling with a stolen license plate on their 1996 green Ford Explorer.

The sheriff’s office began investigating Jacobsen on June 10 after being called out to Scott & White Memorial Hospital when the 13-year-old told authorities he had been assaulted.

During the investigation, Jacobsen was relieved of his duties as a coach.

Little River-Academy Fire Chief Jason Barton said Jacobsen had his membership in the department revoked earlier this year on an unrelated issue, but refused to comment about it because it is “an internal matter.”

“I’m just glad that he’s not a member of this department anymore,” Barton said soon after the warrant was issued.

Jacobson was with the department for several months before he was dismissed.

Aggravated sexual assault of a child is a first-degree felony that carries a punishment of five years to life in prison.

Anyone with information about Jacobsen’s location may contact the sheriff’s office at 254-933-5435.