Third accuser says coach Bernie Fine sexually abused him as child } Caveat: He Himself Faces Charges
Police talk to Syracuse University associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine while executing a search warrant at Fine's home at 7001 Tiffany Circle in DeWitt. Authorities are investigating allegations that Fine sexually abused three men when they were children.
(By Mike McAndrew and John O’Brien)
Syracuse, N.Y. -- A third accuser told police Wednesday that Syracuse University associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine sexually abused him as a child.
That revelation prompted authorities to search Fine's home two days later, a source said.
That revelation prompted authorities to search Fine's home two days later, a source said.
Zach Tomaselli, 23, of Lewiston, Maine, told Syracuse police that Fine molested him in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room when Tomaselli was 13 years old.
Syracuse police detectives Raul Santana and Clark Farry interviewed Tomaselli, who grew up 78 miles north of Syracuse, for more than four hours Wednesday afternoon in Albany, Tomaselli said.
Tomaselli — who is facing sexual assault charges in Maine involving a 14-year-old boy — said he signed a police affidavit on Wednesday accusing Fine of molesting him in the Pittsburgh hotel the night before an SU game against Pitt.
Tomaselli alleged in his statement that Fine invited him to a party at Fine’s DeWitt home in 2003 following another SU game, and it describes in detail the inside of Fine’s house at 7001 Tiffany Circle.
Zach Tomaselli, a former Jefferson County resident, told police Wednesday in a signed statement that SU associate head basketball coach Bernie Fine invited him to an away game in Pittsburgh in January 2002 when he was 13 and molested him in a hotel there.
Tomaselli’s friend, Rose Ryan, said Saturday she was with Tomaselli and the police at a Marriott hotel room in Albany when one of the detectives read out loud Tomaselli’s statement. She shared the content of the statement with The Post-Standard.
Ryan said she gave Syracuse police a signed statement that alleged Tomaselli told her two years ago in her apartment that Fine had sexually abused him in 2002.
No one witnessed the alleged abuse by Fine, Tomaselli said, and he does not have any physical evidence to back up his allegations.
Federal prosecutors used Tomaselli’s statement to police as proof of possible crimes when they applied to a judge for a search warrant of Fine’s home, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Officers who searched Fine’s home seized a cabinet full of Fine’s financial records, most of them related to his insurance business, said Joseph Spadafore, a private investigator who responded to a message The Post-Standard left on Fine’s home phone Saturday.
Police also seized Fine’s cell phone and a computer that was not Fine’s, said Spadafore, who said he is working for Fine’s attorney, Karl Sleight.
The search occurred eight days after allegations became public accusing Fine of sexually abusing two other Central New York men, Bobby Davis and Mike Lang, when they were children.
Fine, 65, who is in his 35th year as an assistant coach at SU, issued a statement Nov. 18 denying the two men’s accusations.
Fine and his lawyer could not be reached Saturday for comment on the new allegations by Tomaselli, who claims Fine abused him only once.
A Syracuse police spokesman declined to comment.
Tomaselli’s father said his son is a liar.
Fred Tomaselli, who lives in Rutland, in Jefferson County, denied ever meeting Fine or letting his son go to Pittsburgh with the SU team in 2002. He said his son did not go to a party at Fine’s house in 2003.
Fred Tomaselli said his son is lying about Fine.
The father and son have been estranged for years, Zach Tomaselli said.
Syracuse police have not filed any charges against Fine. Police confirmed Nov. 17 that they were investigating Fine after ESPN aired a story about allegations brought by Davis and his stepbrother, Lang, both former SU ball boys.
The university put Fine on administrative leave the night that the news broke. The school said it conducted its own internal investigation of Davis’ allegations in 2005 and found no corroboration of his claim.
Davis, now 39, lived in Fine’s house as a teen and baby-sat his children. He told The Post-Standard in 2002 that he was sexually abused by Fine for years, beginning in the mid-1980s when he was 12 or 13 years old. He alleged some of the abuse occurred while he was traveling with SU’s team on out-of-state trips, including to the Final Four in New Orleans in 1987, when Davis was 15.
The allegations by Davis and Lang would be too old to be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations. But the alleged abuse of Tomaselli in 2002, if true, might be prosecutable in federal courts.
Although most federal crimes carry a five-year statute of limitations, some run longer, including sexual or physical abuse or kidnapping of a child under 18 years old. Someone can be charged with those offenses within 10 years of the crime.
For such a crime to fall under federal jurisdiction, there would have to be an act of crossing state lines or the use of interstate commerce, according to Edward Z. Menkin, a Syracuse criminal defense lawyer who practices in federal court. The interstate conduct could include the use of the Internet in the commission of the crime, he said.
If an adult arranged for a child to be transported across state lines for the purpose of sex, that would also be sufficient basis for federal agents and prosecutors to get involved, Menkin said.
Tomaselli said he talked briefly with Davis several times on the phone since the story broke and before he called the police. Tomaselli said he has never met Davis or Lang.
Tomaselli said he first talked with Syracuse police Monday.
Later that day, Tomaselli posted a message on his Facebook page that alleged Fine molested him.
“I wanted to announce this to encourage all sex abuse victims to come forward as tough as it is because we can stop other kids from this abuse,” Tomaselli wrote.
Tomaselli said he has not asked Syracuse police or federal authorities for help getting the criminal charges against him dismissed in Maine.
On April 13, Lewiston police arrested Tomaselli on an indictment warrant that charged him with gross sexual assault, tampering with a victim, two counts of unlawful sexual contact, five counts of visual sexual aggression against a child and unlawful sexual touching.
Tomaselli was accused of having sexual contact with a 14-year-old boy who attended a camp where Tomaselli worked as a counselor. The charges stem from alleged incidents in 2009 and 2010. Tomaselli has pleaded not guilty.
Tomaselli acknowledged he was also fined $500 in 2010 for providing alcohol to a minor in Maine. He said he bought alcohol for a 20-year-old.
Unlike Davis and Lang, Tomaselli said he never played organized basketball and did not attend the Big Orange Basketball Camp that Fine ran.
Tomaselli said he first met Fine when he and his father attended an SU team autograph session on the SU campus in late 2001.
Shortly after that, Tomaselli said, Fine telephoned Tomaselli’s parents and arranged for the teen to travel to Pittsburgh with the SU athletic department staff on a chartered bus, spend the night in Fine’s hotel room and then attend the SU vs. Pittsburgh basketball game Jan. 22, 2002.
Tomaselli said he ate dinner with the team in Pittsburgh. Afterward in the hotel room, Tomaselli said, Fine switched on a pornographic movie on the TV, and Fine fondled Tomaselli’s penis in bed.
The next day, Fine arranged for Tomaselli to attend the game for free and sit about 5 to 10 rows behind the SU bench at Fitzgerald Field House, Tomaselli said.
After the game, Tomaselli said, he rode the SU chartered bus to the Pittsburgh hotel and then back to Syracuse.
About a year later, Tomaselli said, Fine arranged for him and his father to attend the SU-Pitt game Feb. 1, 2003, at the Carrier Dome and sit 10 to 15 rows behind the SU bench.
After the game, Tomaselli said, he and his father bumped into Fine as fans stormed the Carrier Dome court. Fine invited Fred Tomaselli and his son to a party at Fine’s home, Tomaselli said. Tomaselli said his father was unable to go. But his father agreed to let the 14-year-old Tomaselli go to Fine’s house, spend the night there, and have Fine drop him off the next morning at Hancock Air Base, where the father worked, Tomaselli said.
In the morning, Fine drove him to Hancock Air Base, Tomaselli said. Tomaselli said he never talked to Fine again after that.
Tomaselli said he never told anyone about what happened in the Pittsburgh hotel room until he told Ryan a few years ago.
Contact Mike McAndrew at mmcandrew@syracuse.com
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