Bernie Fine Fired By Syracuse, Faces Third Child Abuse Accusation – With Video
Nov 27, 2011 3 Comments ›› Angelia
@AP: BREAKING: Syracuse University fires assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine -CC
A third alleged victim has come forward, accusing Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of sexual molestation.
Zach Tomaselli contacted NewsChannel 9. The 23-year-old currently lives in Maine and told us by e-mail that he was molested by Fine in 2002 and that he spoke with detectives on Wednesday.
According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, it was Tomaselli’s allegations that prompted the search of Fine’s Dewitt home on Friday.
Three metal filing cabinets were removed and marked as evidence.
New York State Police said they were assisting the U.S. Attorney’s office with a search. The U.S. Attorney’s Office would not comment on what they were looking for.
The Post-Standard reports that Tomaselli told investigators that Fine molested him at a Pittsburgh hotel the night before a Syracuse game against Pittsburgh.
In an interview with a Maine television station Sunday, Tomaselli talked about how the alleged abuse happened.
“I was in the hotel room, he would put his hand down my shorts whenever I was sitting there watching TV and he would basically fondle me, four to maybe even five times. It would go in spurts between ten and 15 minutes and it would stop for a couple hours and then he would start that all over again,” he said.
Tomaselli, is awaiting his own trial for sexual contact with a 14-year-old. We spoke with his estranged father Fred, who says Zach is a liar and in this case Bernie fine is 100 percent not guilty.
Fred Tomaselli says he took his son to a few SU games, none of which were in Pittsburgh. They sat up in the nosebleed section at the dome, never got near the bench, and went straight home afterward.
He says Zach is desperate and dealing with his own issues of being abused as a child.
The Onondaga County District Attorney tells NewsChannel 9 he is aware of Tomaselli’s accusations and that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is handling that aspect of the case since, the alleged conduct happened across state lanes. He declined to comment any further.
The Syracuse Police Department is not commenting on the case and calls to the U.S. Attorney’s Office have not yet been returned.
