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	Grand Jury Hears Claims Coach Abused Teen in '70s By Michael Rezendes Boston Globe March 7, 2010 http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/03/07/boston_grand_jury_hears_claims_ny_coach_abused_teen_in_70s/ BOSTON (MA) -- It was an overcast Saturday in the summer of 1976 and the Red Sox and Yankees were halfway through a doubleheader. Sam Albano, a New York television producer, was strolling down Lansdowne Street behind Fenway Park when he ran into a friend from home, Bob Oliva, and Oliva's guest that day, a teenager named Jimmy Carlino. It crossed his mind that it was odd to find Oliva with a 14-year-old, but Albano quickly dismissed the thought. And over the next 30 years, the two men became even closer friends, sharing a passion for sports as Oliva built a reputation as a standout coach for the powerhouse basketball team at Christ the King Regional High School in Queens. Now, however, Albano is cooperating with Boston prosecutors presenting evidence to a Suffolk grand jury that Oliva repeatedly molested his teenage companion all those years ago, while staying at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. And in the aftermath of those allegations, Oliva has resigned from the job he held at Christ the King for 27 years, roiling the New York City high school sports community. "This is a guy I looked up to, trusted, and had a lot of faith in, and even believed in when the initial allegations surfaced," Albano said in a Globe interview. "However, because of his personal conduct there's no way I can support Bob anymore." Michael Doolin, the Boston criminal attorney defending Oliva, said that the longtime coach "has absolutely not done anything criminal or illegal in this case at all." Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, declined to confirm, deny, or discuss any grand jury investigation, citing office policy. But sources familiar with the grand jury proceedings said that Assistant District Attorney Leora Joseph, the head of the Child Protection Unit, is presenting grand jury testimony by a roster of New Yorkers with connections to Oliva. They include Carlino, who testified Wednesday about what happened in Boston, and Allen Watson, a former New York Yankees pitcher who was only 5 during the 1976 weekend but who would come to know Oliva at Christ the King. Some of the sources requested anonymity because the proceedings are secret. As first reported by the New York Daily News, Carlino says he was sexually abused by Oliva over a period of several years during the 1970s, when Carlino was a teenager growing up in the Ozone Park section of Queens and Oliva was a basketball coach and tavern owner. The New York statute of limitations - the period after a crime during which prosecutors may file charges - expired long ago. But Conley's office was able to present the 1976 incident in Boston to a grand jury because the clock on the Massachusetts statute stopped when Oliva crossed state lines and returned to New York. Carlino, who is now 48 and living in Florida, declined to comment through his lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston attorney who made his name representing victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. "It is my understanding that the facts concerning this matter are currently being presented to a Suffolk County grand jury," Garabedian said. The Rev. Robert Hoatson, a Catholic priest and cofounder of Road to Recovery, an organization that offers support to victims of clergy sexual abuse, said that he is providing pastoral counseling to Carlino and that Carlino says he was molested multiple times at multiple locations by Oliva after the coach ingratiated himself with Carlino's family. "He had the kid wrapped around his finger," Hoatson said. Hoatson also said Carlino suffers from a variety of psychological ailments that Hoatson attributes to the abuse allegedly committed by Oliva. "He's not able to drive, he's not able to get on a plane, he's not able to do much of anything," Hoatson said. "Those are all symptoms of the abuse." Hoatson, who said he is himself a victim of clergy sexual abuse, was an administrator at Boston's Catholic Memorial High School during the 1980s and said he was asked to get in touch with Carlino because of Carlino's connection to Catholic schools. Oliva, meanwhile, may be facing allegations in addition to those that Carlino has leveled against him. Hoatson and a source familiar with the grand jury proceedings say that at least one additional alleged victim has contacted law enforcement authorities. Oliva has also been accused of attempting to enlist Albano's support in fabricating a story for the benefit of Boston police and prosecutors. After Carlino made his allegations, Albano said, Oliva asked him to say that he stayed with Oliva and Carlino at the Boston Sheraton Hotel on the weekend of the doubleheader. But Albano said that he told the grand jury that he bumped into Oliva and Carlino that weekend by chance, and that he stayed at the Colonnade. "That was the deal breaker with Bob and I," said Albano, who had previously stood by Oliva. He recalled telling Oliva: "You told me you were innocent and now you're asking me to lie? You've gotta be kidding me." Doolin, Oliva's attorney, would not address the allegation specifically but reiterated his position that Oliva has broken no law in the case before the grand jury. Carlino, in a detailed account of his allegations provided to the Daily News, said he met Oliva when he was a youngster and Oliva was running a youth basketball program at a Catholic grade school. The sexual abuse, Carlino said, started later, when he was about 12 and Oliva opened a Queens tavern, The Short Porch, named for the right-field stands in the old Yankee Stadium. After giving Carlino's father a weekend job tending bar, he brought on Carlino to run errands and began showing him pornographic films. "Bob Oliva was his godfather in every way, shape, and form," Hoatson told the Globe. "To this day, Jimmy says he still loves the guy and cares for him, but knows what he did to him was wrong." Oliva, who is now 65, resigned from his coaching job early last year, after Carlino publicly accused Oliva of molesting him. Until then, Oliva had spent nearly three decades at the center of New York City's high school basketball scene, amassing a 549-181 record while his team won five city championships. His players were routinely courted by college basketball coaches and at least two have had careers in the NBA, Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Jayson Williams, formerly of the New Jersey Nets and Philadelphia 76ers. Oliva was also courted by college teams looking for a coach, but never left his perch at Christ the King. "I live for the kids, I guess," he said during a 1989 interview with the Chicago Tribune. "I really enjoy working with guys this age, teaching and coaching." Elizabeth Tuite of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Michael Rezendes can be reached at rezendes@globe.com
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