By Michael O'keeffe
New York Daily News
March 25, 2010
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/2010/03/25/2010-03-25_oliva_indicted_on_two_counts_of_child_rape.html
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| Former Christ the King boys basketball coach Bob Oliva faces life in prison after being indicted on two counts of raping a child by a Massachusetts grand jury. |
In the past, Bob Oliva would spend the last week of March preparing his Christ the King Regional High School boys basketball team for the state Federation tournament.
But this year, the legendary coach, who resigned last year amid sex abuse allegations, is preparing to defend himself against criminal charges that could land him in a Massachusetts prison for the rest of his life.
Oliva, the legendary coach who won four CHSAA Class AA intersectional titles and coached Lamar Odom and Jayson Williams before they became NBA stars, was indicted Thursday by a Massachusetts grand jury on two counts of rape of a child. The maximum penalty in Massachusetts for rape of a child is life in prison.
The grand jury also indicted Oliva on one count of disseminating pornography to a minor, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County (Mass.) District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. The maximum penalty for that charge is five years in prison.
Prosecutors say Oliva raped a 14-year-old boy twice at the Boston Sheraton during a visit to Massachusetts in 1976 to attend a Red Sox-Yankees doubleheader at Fenway Park.
Wark said his office does not release the names of sexual assault victims, but a man named Jimmy Carlino told the Daily News last year that Oliva abused him over the course of several years during the 1970s. Sources say most of the abuse took place in New York, but Carlino has also alleged that Oliva, whom he calls his godfather, molested him during a trip to Boston. Carlino reported the alleged attack to authorities in Boston last year.
"My client feels that the indictment speaks volumes about the substance of the allegations," said Carlino's attorney Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston lawyer who has represented scores of victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. "It is the beginning of the healing process for my client. Mr. Carlino is ready to proceed and testify at trial."
Oliva is not in custody, and his attorney Michael Doolin said he expects an arraignment will be scheduled for mid-April. Doolin said Oliva is not guilty of the charges.
"Bob Oliva looks forward to his day in court," Doolin told The News. "We have every expectation that when a jury is presented with the facts, he will be acquitted."
Carlino and several other New Yorkers with ties to Christ the King, including former Met and Yankee pitcher Allen Watson, traveled to Boston in February to testify before the grand jury. Two other men who told The News that Oliva abused them also appeared before the panel, and Wark said that prosecutors have not ruled out additional charges.
"No punishment can be handed down severe enough to equal this man's heinous acts," one of the men said in a statement sent to The News. "My hope is that he feels just a fraction of the pain he has caused me and the other victims to live with over our lifetime. However, the bottom line is whatever the final outcome, we will live with what happened for the rest of our lives. That is what people need to understand about us as victims. It is never over."Oliva, 65, was one of the most influential basketball coaches in New York City for nearly three decades before he resigned in January 2009, citing heart problems caused by the strain of the sex abuse allegations that were first raised by Carlino during the spring of 2008. He coached dozens of players who graduated to Division I college programs and compiled a record of 549-131.
Bernard Helldorfer, legal counsel for the Christ the King board of trustees, did not return calls for comment.
It would be difficult for authorities in New York to prosecute Oliva because of statute of limitation issues. But Massachusetts officials didn't face such hurdles when they found what they said was evidence that Oliva had abused Carlino: the statute of limitations clock there stops ticking when a suspect leaves the state.
Carlino told The News last year that he first met Oliva when he was a 7-year-old kid trying out for the youth basketball program at St. Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Church in Queens. The abuse began a few years later, not long after Carlino started working as a porter at the Short Porch, a sports bar co-owned by Oliva.
Carlino eventually moved to Florida and remained friendly with Oliva, but in recent years he started suffering from severe anxiety attacks that prevented him from driving, flying and working. A therapist told him the anxiety attacks were a product of abuse. In April 2008, a Florida law firm representing Carlino sent Oliva a letter that accused the coach of sex abuse and offered to settle the matter for $750,000 and Oliva's resignation from the Queens high school. Oliva later told The News that Carlino was trying to extort money from him.
Father Bob Hoatson, a Catholic priest who has counseled Carlino and other victims of abuse, said Carlino's intention was to get a sexual predator away from kids.
"It is not uncommon for people in their 40s to get the courage to confront sex abuse," Hoatson said. "They look back at their lives and see that things weren't so good. They look forward and see that things won't get better if they don't do something about it. Money is not the issue. Jimmy wanted to stop this guy before he ruined other lives."
Hoatson said Carlino does not relish the prospect that Oliva could go to prison for the rest of his life.
"Bob Oliva was like a big brother to him, a protector, and he betrayed all that," Hoatson said. "Jimmy is sorry this had to be done but he is glad justice will be done."
The allegations against Oliva have roiled Christ the King and the New York basketball community, tearing apart decades-long friendships. Ray Paprocky, a former Christ the King basketball player who later served as Oliva's assistant coach, defended Oliva when Carlino first made his allegations but later changed his position after a friend - one of the men who appeared before the grand jury - told him that he had been molested by the ex-coach.
"This is tremendous vindication," Paprocky said. "Bobby will have his day in court, but when all the evidence is heard, justice will prevail. I'm happy for Jimmy. This is the first step in helping him recover from this."
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