Another? Syracuse Assist. Basketball Coach Put on Leave Following Allegations of Child Molestation
- Posted on November 17, 2011 at 11:37pm by
Tiffany Gabbay
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. (The Blaze/AP) — Just two weeks after Penn State was rocked by a child sex-abuse scandal, ESPN reported Thursday that police were investigating an assistant basketball coach at Syracuse University on allegations of child molestation.
Shortly afterward, Syracuse placed longtime assistant coach Bernie Fine on administrative leave “in light of the new allegations and the Syracuse City Police investigation,” the school said.
“We are in the very early stages of an investigation,” Sgt. Tom Connellan told The Post-Standard in Syracuse.
Connellan told the newspaper that police received information on the case Thursday but would not say who provided the information. The university said it had conducted its own investigation and couldn’t find witnesses to corroborate the allegations.
Phone calls by The Associated Press to the police were not immediately returned.
ESPN reported that Fine is accused of molesting a former Syracuse ball boy, Bobby Davis, who is now 39. Davis told “Outside the Lines” that the abuse occurred at Fine’s home, at Syracuse basketball facilities and on team road trips, including the 1987 Final Four.
ESPN said it first investigated the accusations in 2003, but decided not to run the story because there was no independent evidence to corroborate the allegations. Recently, a second man contacted ESPN, alleging that Fine also molested him. That person said he decided to come forward after seeing the Penn State coverage.
The Post-Standard reported it also investigated the accuser’s allegations in 2003, but decided against publishing the story because no one else came forward to confirm the accuser’s account. Fine is in his 35th season as an assistant to coach Jim Boeheim.
In a statement by Kevin Quinn, the school’s senior vice president for public affairs, Syracuse said it would cooperate with the police investigation.
He said the school was contacted in 2005 by “an adult male who told us that he had reported to the Syracuse City Police that he had been subjected to inappropriate contact by an associate men’s basketball coach.”
He said the alleged activity took place in the 1980s and 1990s.
“We were informed by the complainant that the Syracuse City Police had declined to pursue the matter because the statute of limitations had expired,” Quinn said.
Quinn said the school conducted its own four-month investigation that included interviews with people the accuser said would support his allegations, but that all those people “denied any knowledge of wrongful conduct” and that the coach also denied the allegations.
Boeheim released a statement saying: “This matter was fully investigated by the university in 2005 and it was determined that the allegations were unfounded.
“I have known Bernie Fine for more than 40 years. I have never seen or witnessed anything to suggest that he would been involved in any of the activities alleged. Had I seen or suspected anything, I would have taken action. Bernie has my full support.”
In a telephone interview afterward with the AP, Boeheim said: “This kid came forward and there was no one to corroborate his story. Not one. Not one. … This just is not true.”
The accusations arrived on the heels of the Penn State case in which longtime former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is accused of sexually abused eight boys over 15 years. The case cost Joe Paterno his job, and former school administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are charged with not properly alerting authorities to suspected abuse and perjury.
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chips1
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 6:49pmThey haven’t even started investigating womens tennis. Film at eleven.
Report Post »LoneRanger
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 3:12pmhttp://www.lawsuitcoming.com must be seen. Pass it on.
Report Post »LoneRanger
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 3:08pmhttp://Www.lawsuitoming.com must be seen. Pass it on.
Report Post »the point
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 9:06amI have been saying since the 1950s that perverted things such as this was going on. Keep on digging . You haven’t seen nothing yet.
Report Post »kmichaels
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 11:00amThe problem in this case however is that it may have been totally made up.
Report Post »Tightroper2
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 8:47amHomosexuals should not be permitted to adopt. What more proof is needed?
Report Post »Justus39
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:55amNow that homosexuality rules in America maybe we can get down to beastiality! These people are natural,they are born that way. Sodom had nothing on America.
Report Post »donh2
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:45amLook at the obscene phallic symbol the coach has drawn on the white board held in his lap. The man is clearly a perv.
Report Post »kmichaels
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 11:01amIf you try hard enough, and if your mind is in the gutter, well, you know what happens next. You see things that are not there.
Report Post »fobama
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:45ami am from syracuse, they have already investigated this, an was unfounded…. back in 03 so theres no truth to it
Report Post »LimbaughJr
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:54amInteresting, from what I heard the police were informed about in in 03 but didn’t act because of statute of limitations. Some have asserted that the police chief of Syracuse at the time played basketball for the University, and that only a sports magazine or newspaper investigated it in 03. I didn’t know of a further investigation by the SPD. Time will tell I suppose.
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 1:38amMaybe he was just teaching gay history.
Report Post »kmichaels
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 10:50am[LimbaughJr
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:54am
Interesting, from what I heard the police were informed about in in 03 but didn’t act because of statute of limitations. Some have asserted that the police chief of Syracuse at the time played basketball for the University, and that only a sports magazine or newspaper investigated it in 03. I didn’t know of a further investigation by the SPD. Time will tell I suppose.]
If you actually read the article and not just the headlines, it explains that the school performed a four month investigation in 2003, interviewing the four supposed corroborating witnesses and in each case NONE OF THE FOUR would back up the accusers claims.
Report Post »Chris2
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:37amI my older brother was good friends with Mo Cassara (the coach at Hofstra). When it the story brook about the guy at Penn State Scott called me up and asked if Mo molested me. He said “You know he is raging closet **** right? Oh and he named his dog Christopher”
Most awkward conversation I have ever had.
Report Post »garbagecanlogic
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:31amHe even looks like a molester.
The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
Report Post »The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
JimmyP
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 1:04amGee, none of these men wore a Roman collar! Huh? Will the real scandle of union-backed child molesters in our public school systems be revealed any time soon? Maybe when the attorney’s can get a sniff of the blood in the water and are willing to take on big-union and reach into the big, deep pockets of school districts’ insurance policies, we will see the horid truth of child molestation that flourishes in our K-12 schools.
Report Post »kmichaels
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 10:52amPost your photo so we can see what kind of criminal you look like.
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:26amQuestion: Go to the temptation of Christ with Satan. Who owns the kingdoms of the earth (else their offer wouldn’t be a temptation and Christ would know it)?
Now, do you expect anything grander from the “teaching establishments” of these kingdoms?
Report Post »blaaaaackwoman
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:24amHahahahahaha, har har har. Sit back away from the monitor, that coaches clipboard he has sitting on his lap looks like a penis standing straight up. Guilty as charged hahahahahaha.
Report Post »David Zuckerman
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:49amLOL! I was going to comment on the same thing! It also could be read with the tie as an arrow: penis here. LOL!
Report Post »LimbaughJr
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:23amGood news Congress, if you don’t win re-election, you may want to pursue a career as an athletics coach at a College.
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 7:18amCongress isn’t going to take up coaching. As coaches they could only molest little boys, as congress- men they get to screw us all!
Report Post ».
OMG
Rowgue
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:14amIf they only have allegations of stuff that happened in the 80s then they’re going to have to hope somebody else comes forward if they actually hope to prosecute a criminal case. The statute of limitations for criminal child molestation cases is only five years in New York.
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:07amHe was born that way.
Report Post »ZAP
Posted on November 18, 2011 at 12:44amYes,lt`s not his fault he was born that way.Pass a law this is OK
Report Post »urethra franklin
Posted on November 17, 2011 at 11:52pmI think there should be an NCAA Handball League. You know there’s no shortage of qualified coaches!
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