A professional baseball player on the Harrisburg Senators minor league team has admitted that he twice had "sexual acts" with a 15-year-old Elizabethtown girl, police say.

Elizabethtown Borough Police on Wednesday charged Garrett Guzman, 25, with one misdemeanor charge, corruption of minors.

Guzman was living in Harrisburg when the incidents occurred in Elizabethtown between July 15 and Aug. 1, police said.

One incident was in a parking lot at the MoviE-town movie theater, 700 N. Hanover St., another in the Elizabethtown Middle School lot at 600 East High St., according to a police criminal complaint filed in District Judge Jayne F. Duncan's office.

"They met at a Harrisburg Senators game and exchanged phone calls and texts," Elizabethtown Police Detective Clair R. Martin Jr. said today. "(Guzman) then met her in Elizabethtown on two occasions.

"One time, he picked her up at her house. Another time, he picked her up at a friend's house," Martin said.

One time, they went to the movies, he said.

In both incidents, Guzman took the girl to parking lots and "sexual acts" occurred in the vehicle, the detective said.

The criminal complaint said Guzman admitted to engaging in sexual intercourse with the victim.

Martin said the sexual contact was consensual and the victim had presented herself as a 16-year-old to Guzman.

A member of the girl's family saw some texts on her phone and was suspicious, he said.

"They spoke to her about it and told a parent," Martin said. "Her parents brought her to the police station."

The detective said the girl "seems to be doing fine" and her mother and father "seemed to be handling things well."

Martin said he had Guzman in for an interview at the Elizabethtown Police station about two weeks ago and he was very cooperative with police.

Guzman admitted to the offense at the station, the detective said.

"It's a serious problem. It's happening more and more," Martin said. "Older guys are having sex with girls in their teens."

He said the fact Guzman was a professional athlete might have made the girl "more susceptible to any kind of advances" from Guzman and that she might have had "stars in her eyes."

Guzman grew up in California and Nevada, and the Minnesota Twins drafted him in the 10th round of the 2001 baseball draft.

A top minor league hitting prospect, Guzman was in a serious car accident and missed the entire 2005 baseball season.

He returned to baseball and was an All-Star outfielder for the Twins' Double-A New Britain Rock Cats team last year.

He was traded to the Washington Nationals in March and played this year for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers in Columbus, Ohio, and the Senators, the Nationals' Double-A team in Harrisburg.

In 89 games with the Senators, he hit .274 with nine home runs and 54 RBIs.

Harrisburg Senators General Manager Randy Whitaker said today that he did not know about the police charge.

Whitaker said he did not know Guzman's current status with the team and he declined any further comments, referring all questions to the team's parent club.

The Nationals' front office did not return a phone call for comment by deadline.

The criminal complaint listed Guzman's address as 1970 Merganser Run Drive, Columbus, Ohio.

Martin said Guzman has at times also lived in Texas and Harrisburg.

He said a hearing date has not been set for Guzman.


Staff writer Ryan Robinson can be reached at rrobinson@LNPnews.com or 481-6032.