NY - Bernie Fine Accused of Molestation, Syracuse, 2011

[wfgodot]

The sort of thing one tends to hear not long before the other shoe drops:

Syracuse chancellor: Boeheim's our coach

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor gave men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim a vote of confidence Tuesday amid an investigation of child molestation allegations against his former longtime assistant coach.
Cantor emerged from an economic development conference with state officials and said: "Coach Boeheim is our coach."
---
"Coach Boeheim is our coach; he's getting the team ready tonight," Cantor said. "We're very pleased with what he said Sunday night, and we stand by him."

After initially saying Fine's first two accusers were lying to make money in the wake of the Penn State University sexual abuse scandal, Boeheim backed off those comments in a statement Sunday.
---

more at SI.com/AP link above

 

[SuziQ]

Mike Lang, who accused former Syracuse coach Bernie Fine of molesting him as a child, said he is speaking out to keep more children from being hurt. Fine has denied the allegations

Video
http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/11/29/ac-tuchman-mike-lang-intv-mpg.cnn

Full story
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/29/justice/syracuse-coach-accuser/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

 

[katydid23]

I was talking to my friend, who is a film editor, about this audio tape. He said he listened to it and in his opinion, it was not doctored. He said there are no short and quick 'start and stops', and there are a lot of long flowing sentences with their talking overlapping. That makes it very hard to fake or cut and paste, unless it is a digital or computer audiotape. But this is from too long ago. So in his professional opinion, it was not tampered with. [ Maybe that is why Mrs. Fine postponed her presser?]

 

[Pensfan]

What I got out of that was that she wasn't making a statement to them at that time. I still think there may be a statement today. JMO



I started a psychopath thread (no relation to this sickness) and in the documentary "I, Psychopath" they say an experiment was conducted where one person who had been mugged was shown walking down the hall alone with their back to the camera. They also showed others who've never been mugged walking down the hallway alone too. The psychopath's had a very high rate of identifying the victim by how they walked.

I don't think how a kid walks has anything to do with it but I think there are cues that pedophiles pick up on as to who is "safe" to molest and who is not. JMO

The most common pre-abuse characteristic of people who were victims of an abuser is that they had a poor self image/lacked self confidence. Perhaps this psychopath could see this in the way that individual carried himself while walking.

How pedos choose a victims: (They will frequently groom more than one victim at a time if they have access to many children.)
Stage 1: Identifying a possible victim
Although pedophiles differ in their “type” regarding age, appearance, and gender, and vulnerability
Stage 2: Collecting Information
The pedophile collects as much information on the targeted victim as possible through conversations with the child and parents/care-taker. The child must not be closely supervised and must have unmet needs which the pedo will begin to fill to gain control over the child.
http://www.victimsofviolence.on.ca/rev2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=45


verified psychiatric mental health nurse

 

[MagnoliaMom]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7296858/jim-boeheim-syracuse-orange-speaks-media-first-time-firing-bernie-fine

"What happened on my watch, we'll see," Boeheim said. "When the investigation is done, we'll find out what happened on my watch. Right now there are no charges, no indictment, no grand jury and no action has been taken. When that's done, we'll see what happened on my watch."

BBM Something about the way he said that and then the quirky smile.

"No ball boys traveled with our team, they never have," he said, repeating the statement gain. "We've had ball boys move on to other positions and it's not unusual from time to time to have people with our group, but not ball boys."

Well after watching the video below, I am lost on the ball boys. I don't think that made any sense at all.

http://youtu.be/b9RNYKDmZmE

 

[Steely Dan]

[/B]
The most common pre-abuse characteristic of people who were victims of an abuser is that they had a poor self image/lacked self confidence. Perhaps this psychopath could see this in the way that individual carried himself while walking.

How pedos choose a victims: (They will frequently groom more than one victim at a time if they have access to many children.)
Stage 1: Identifying a possible victim
Although pedophiles differ in their “type” regarding age, appearance, and gender, and vulnerability
Stage 2: Collecting Information
The pedophile collects as much information on the targeted victim as possible through conversations with the child and parents/care-taker. The child must not be closely supervised and must have unmet needs which the pedo will begin to fill to gain control over the child.
http://www.victimsofviolence.on.ca/rev2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=45


verified psychiatric mental health nurse

Thanks.

This whole thing bothers me. I don't for one second believe the guy who's facing molestation charges in another state Tomaselli(?). Also, the one kid was having sex with Fine's wife. As far as I'm aware there are only three claimed victims right now. Two are related and one is obviously, to me, a liar. I AM NOT SAYING that the other victims are lying because the wife's admitting it on tape, but the $5,000 and having a relationship with the wife just make this whole thing hinky to the max for me. I think there's more here that I can't figure out. :waitasec:

I don't want that to come across as insensitive to victims of abuse because that's not how it's meant. I just think this is a very unique and weird situation.

 

[ynotdivein]

A (very) little more info on Thomaselli:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/mainer-fired-su-coach-molested-me_2011-11-28.html?pageType=mobile&id=1

FWIW, still no word in the Maine press about the pending charges against ZT.

 

[katydid23]

Thanks.

This whole thing bothers me. I don't for one second believe the guy who's facing molestation charges in another state Tomaselli(?). Also, the one kid was having sex with Fine's wife. As far as I'm aware there are only three claimed victims right now. Two are related and one is obviously, to me, a liar. I AM NOT SAYING that the other victims are lying because the wife's admitting it on tape, but the $5,000 and having a relationship with the wife just make this whole thing hinky to the max for me. I think there's more here that I can't figure out. :waitasec:

I don't want that to come across as insensitive to victims of abuse because that's not how it's meant. I just think this is a very unique and weird situation.

bbm

Sadly, this part make perfect sense to me. This kid lived with this family for awhile. During his early childhood, Bernie had sex with him regularly. By the time this poor kid turned 18, Bernie had moved on to younger prey. Leaving this kid really messed up psychologically. And leaving him in his wife's jealous clutches. It makes perfect sense to me that wifey would go in for the kill. Sadly, it is quite common. imoo

 

[matou]

bbm

Sadly, this part make perfect sense to me. This kid lived with this family for awhile. During his early childhood, Bernie had sex with him regularly. By the time this poor kid turned 18, Bernie had moved on to younger prey. Leaving this kid really messed up psychologically. And leaving him in his wife's jealous clutches. It makes perfect sense to me that wifey would go in for the kill. Sadly, it is quite common. imoo

I agree. I saw this guy on HLN and he seemed believable to me. He was living in their basement.

 

[katydid23]

I agree. I saw this guy on HLN and he seemed believable to me. He was living in their basement.

I want to know where his family was. Why was their kid living in this other family's basement? Mrs. Fine said he ' bummed food off them' for 15 years. Why was the kid with them for so long? It makes me feel so badly for him that he was so alone and dependent upon this messed up family.

I was a victim of sexual abuse as a child, but I lived at home with my loving family. I do not think I could have survived it without having their love and nurturing surrounding me, even though they did not know about the abuse at the time. But if I had been living alone in my abusers' basement---wow. That would have been horrendous.

 

[Reader]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/coll...-accuser-case-given-to-us-attorney/51517386/1

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Pittsburgh police have turned over the investigation of alleged child sexual abuse charges against former Syracuse associate basketball coach Bernie Fine to the U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of New York.

"We are not going to be investigating," Pittsburgh police public information officer Diane Richard said Wednesday.

Zach Tomaselli, 23, of Lewiston, Maine, who alleges that Fine once molested him while with the Syracuse men's basketball team was in Pittsburgh in 2002, said he is hopeful authorities are pursuing his case.
--------

Also Wednesday, federal agents searched Fine's former campus office, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the matter. It is unclear what materials, if any, were seized.

More at link...

 

[concentric]

bbm

Sadly, this part make perfect sense to me. This kid lived with this family for awhile. During his early childhood, Bernie had sex with him regularly. By the time this poor kid turned 18, Bernie had moved on to younger prey. Leaving this kid really messed up psychologically. And leaving him in his wife's jealous clutches. It makes perfect sense to me that wifey would go in for the kill. Sadly, it is quite common. imoo

Yes, makes sense to me also. When you mention the word prey, I think of what human predators do. They weaken the victims, injure them physically, mentally, psychologically. This young man was out drinking to try and escape the living hell he had been subjected to. The problem is, that made him even more vulnerable to this woman, and she knew it. She also preyed upon his need to regain his sense of himself as a man. Disgusting.

 

[wfgodot]

A couple of interesting pages on Tomaselli from the university student newspaper in Manhattan KS:

Prospective K-State student comes forward in Syracuse abuse scandal (Kansas State Collegian)

 

[concentric]

Thank you wfgodot.

http://www.kstatecollegian.com/news...buse-scandal-1.2678387?pagereq=1#.TtfakmOncbc

"There was a long line for autographs and Bernie was off to the side. My dad spoke with him for 15 to 30 minutes," Tomaselli said.

Once the conversation was over, Tomaselli's father introduced him to Fine.

"After coming out of the line, Bernie handed my dad an adult-sized jersey that had already been signed," Tomaselli said. "During the second conversation, my dad gave Bernie our phone number."
----------

And, I think we can all surmise what the topic of that conversation was.
So, his father knew about B. Fine's interests in boys?

(I greatly admire this young man's courage and his will to get beyond this ordeal from Hell.)

 

[wfgodot]

Interesting article. I haven't read too much about Zach Tomaselli - I know he's the third person to come forward with allegations about Bernie Fine, but that's about it. His story in the Collegian article, well, sounds good. Is he believable, I wonder? If so - sounds like a pedo ring almost, with the dad involved.

 

[concentric]

Interesting article. I haven't read too much about Zach Tomaselli - I know he's the third person to come forward with allegations about Bernie Fine, but that's about it. His story in the Collegian article, well, sounds good. Is he believable, I wonder? If so - sounds like a pedo ring almost, with the dad involved.

----------
I have a propensity to believe/give the benefit of the doubt, to people who say they are victims. This from knowing many victims, myself included (not in this case), who were not believed, and, therefore, were revictimized.

 

[concentric]

And here's one more thing I have to say. It is purported that children or adults who have been abused, sometimes become abusers themselves.

IMO: You are not automatically destined to become an abuser. You make the choice.

 

[ynotdivein]

Ex-NY Coach's Maine Accuser Faces Own Sex Abuse Charges

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Ex-NY-coach-s-Maine-accuser-faces-own-abuse-case-2338139.php

"AUBURN, Maine (AP) — A man who accused former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of molesting him in 2002 is seeking to suppress what his lawyer maintains was a coerced confession in his own molestation case.

Zach Tomaselli of Lewiston faces charges of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy he met at a day camp where he was serving as a counselor. The boy is now 14."

(snip)

"Tomaselli declined to address the Maine charges after the hearing. But he has said that past abuse by his father and Fine made it difficult for him to set proper boundaries and to understand a proper relationship between a man and a boy."

(more at link)

 

[MagnoliaMom]

Ex-NY Coach's Maine Accuser Faces Own Sex Abuse Charges

http://www.chron.com/news/article/Ex-NY-coach-s-Maine-accuser-faces-own-abuse-case-2338139.php

"AUBURN, Maine (AP) — A man who accused former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of molesting him in 2002 is seeking to suppress what his lawyer maintains was a coerced confession in his own molestation case.

Zach Tomaselli of Lewiston faces charges of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy he met at a day camp where he was serving as a counselor. The boy is now 14."

(snip)

"Tomaselli declined to address the Maine charges after the hearing. But he has said that past abuse by his father and Fine made it difficult for him to set proper boundaries and to understand a proper relationship between a man and a boy."

(more at link)

I am on the fence about Tomaselli at this time. What puts me on the fence is not that his father says he is lying. If his father also abused him, of course he is going to say this. It will help the father in his own self defense to family, friends, church, or the law so I would expect this from the father.

It is that he has also been accused of sexual abuse. That can be explained by the part above BBM or did that insightful comment come straight from a counseling book. Where was that insight when he decided to sexually assault a child? Is he seeking counseling or preparing his defense? He could be seeking counseling as part of his defense.

The timing of his claim and his possible motives are what puts me on the fence. Is he seeking to get out of his own criminal charges or have them lessened? Is he seeking monetary gain for his defense through civil suits?

I feel this same way when people are divorcing and all of sudden claims of sexual abuse of the children come up. Then you have to determine if the claims came out because the children just felt safe in telling or it is part of the custody battle.

It just muddies the waters all up and makes it less believable even if it is true.

 

[Filly]

I want to know where his family was. Why was their kid living in this other family's basement? Mrs. Fine said he ' bummed food off them' for 15 years. Why was the kid with them for so long? It makes me feel so badly for him that he was so alone and dependent upon this messed up family.

I was a victim of sexual abuse as a child, but I lived at home with my loving family. I do not think I could have survived it without having their love and nurturing surrounding me, even though they did not know about the abuse at the time. But if I had been living alone in my abusers' basement---wow. That would have been horrendous.

katy I am sorry for your pain.

Don't quote me on this, but I believe I read he came from a very large family. Lots of siblings including the brother with a different last name that was abused. Of course not all large families just up and let their offspring move into a basement. I'll look for the link I read that in.