NEW ROCHELLE, NY (May 11, 2026) — Samuel McVey, the former New Rochelle teacher now jailed after failing to post $100,000 bail, chased a baseball coach with a bat at a Medellín sports field before being deported from Colombia and arrested in the United States, according to official records, witnesses, and video obtained by Talk of the Sound.
McVey, 47, of Briarcliff Manor, had inserted himself into the Medellín baseball community in the weeks before the incident. He first appeared at Ciro Barrios academy on March 6, 2026, where he introduced himself to an American, a director of a baseball academy in San Andrés with ties to baseball in Medellín, as a New York Yankees scout. The coach exchanged contact information with McVey, believing he might be able to help one of his players obtain a signing or a college baseball opportunity in the United States.
According to the coach, McVey had no baseball credentials or background warranting credibility in the sport. Records show McVey played Division III football at Middlebury College but had no affiliation with the Yankees or any MLB organization. McVey claimed he could sign players to professional contracts and help them enter the MLB international draft — claims the coach said made no sense to anyone familiar with how Colombian baseball actually works. Players — many of them minors — can only be signed through government-recognized academies, and McVey was attempting to recruit players already under contract with existing programs. To those working in the sport in Colombia, his entire approach reflected a fundamental misunderstanding of the system.
According to the coach, McVey became hostile toward Ciro Barrios, the academy director, after Barrios refused to give McVey a percentage of any players signed to MLB minor league affiliates.
On March 12, McVey called the coach from an airport in an agitated state, saying he was having difficulty leaving the country. A first call went unanswered — the coach was busy with practice — but after seeing McVey’s messages that evening, the coach texted him. McVey called back immediately. The coach stayed on the phone for an hour on speakerphone, trying to keep him calm. After an hour, McVey directed racial slurs and verbal threats at the coach, who blocked him on WhatsApp.
McVey had also drawn complaints from others in the Medellín baseball community over unpaid transportation and hotel bills, according to WhatsApp messages obtained by Talk of the Sound, whose members also privately questioned whether he had any genuine baseball background at all.
On April 7, 2026, McVey appeared at the Luis Alberto Villegas field in the Estadio sector of Medellín, where coaches Ciro Barrios and Jose Rojas were conducting a baseball practice. The coach was assisting with the practice. Access to INDER-registered fields requires affiliation with a government-recognized academy — McVey had none. McVey interrupted the practice and swept a baseball bat in the coach’s direction, chasing him toward the entrance fence of the stadium. The coach re-injured his left calf muscle while fleeing and hobbled to a security officer near the entrance gate. According to the coach, the security officer was reluctant to intervene — McVey is approximately 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds. McVey then attempted to swing the bat at the coach twice more near the entrance fence before leaving the field.
Video obtained by Talk of the Sound, recorded at the scene immediately after the incident, shows McVey walking away from the field entrance gate as a security guard enters the frame. In the video, the coach identifies McVey by name and states he was just assaulted. The coach subsequently filed a formal complaint with INDER and reported the incident to Colombian police.
The incident prompted a formal response from Colombian authorities. In a letter dated May 7, 2026, INDER Medellín — an agency of the Medellín Mayor’s Office — confirmed that the District of Medellín, acting through the Mayor’s Office and in coordination with national immigration authorities, carried out “verification, control, and deportation” of McVey. The agency stated his presence in Colombia did not comply with migration regulations or the behavioral norms required of foreign nationals, and confirmed it had no affiliation with McVey and no sporting events scheduled with him.
Colombian National Police had previously described the initial April 8 airport action in different terms. In a May 1 letter to Talk of the Sound, Capt. Ana María Hernández Giraldo, commander of the José María Córdova International Airport police station in Rionegro, said officers took McVey into protective custody after receiving citizen reports and social media alerts indicating his safety may be at risk. Police said they applied “a corrective measure due to behavior contrary to public coexistence” and transferred him to a protective custody center in Rionegro.
McVey told Talk of the Sound he was subsequently taken to the Colombian migration center in Medellín, where he participated in a teleconference with a U.S. State Department official and the director of the migration center. What occurred there is in dispute. McVey said he was not deported. The Colombian National Police’s description of the airport action as a protective custody measure does not characterize it as a deportation. However, INDER Medellín, in its May 7 letter, stated that the Mayor’s Office coordinated his “verification, control, and deportation.” The Mayor of Medellín subsequently posted on X stating that McVey had been deported.
NOTE: Talk of the Sound was unable to independently verify all of the Mayor’s characterizations.
A source familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified, said McVey was told he could either leave the country voluntarily by purchasing his own plane ticket or face criminal charges if he chose to remain.
Whatever the precise characterization, McVey was escorted to the gate of a flight to Miami and departed Colombia on April 8. He subsequently called this reporter from Miami.
McVey, in a statement to Talk of the Sound, said he had been in Colombia since February 2026, where he was interviewing for teaching positions and researching property for a planned bilingual school. He said he had a close relationship with Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez Zuluaga, who he claimed supported his school project, and that he was planning to return to Colombia in July for an amateur baseball event coordinated with the Mayor’s office to be held at INDER.
Those claims are directly contradicted by official records. INDER’s May 7 letter states the agency has no relationship, affiliation, or scheduled events with McVey. The Mayor of Medellín posted on X that McVey had been deported.
Westchester County prosecutors subsequently upgraded the charges, adding Criminal Contempt in the First Degree, a felony carrying a fully extraditable nationwide warrant, and a bail jumping charge. Baton Rouge Police arrested McVey on May 7 after encountering him and identifying the outstanding warrant. The New Rochelle Police Department and the Westchester County Police Warrant/Fugitive Unit transported him back to New York.
McVey was arraigned May 8 before Judge Michelle Bernstein in New Rochelle City Court, pleaded not guilty, and was unable to post $100,000 bail. He is being held at the Westchester County Department of Correction in Valhalla and is next due in court June 2, 2026.
As previously reported by Talk of the Sound, McVey had been a probationary Spanish teacher at Isaac E. Young Middle School until January 2026, when Superintendent Corey W. Reynolds notified him of his intent to recommend termination. In early February, according to court records, McVey sent emails to a school official stating he was “coming to the building with guns” and that “we have a bullet for Corey’s head.”
This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
Have information about this story? Email robertcox@talkofthesound.com or contact via WhatsApp: +353 89 972 0669.