By Dylan Butler
New York Post
April 4, 2011
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/high_school/basketball/oliva_cuts_deal_in_sex_rap_case_i49Gr4IsPgeN4e0fl57T1N
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| Bob Oliva |
Bob Oliva spent much of his life as a hugely successful coach on the basketball court. But this morning in a Boston courthouse, the former Christ the King coach will plead guilty to sexually abusing a minor during a trip to Massachusetts in 1976, sources have told The Post.
Oliva's lawyer, Michael Doolin, and the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on a possible plea deal.
Oliva, who won four CHSAA titles and had a career record of 549-131, originally pleaded not guilty to two counts of child rape last April after a grand jury handed down an indictment a month earlier. If convicted, the 65-year-old Oliva was facing life in prison.
But Oliva, who coached Lamar Odom, Speedy Claxton and Erick Barkley during his 27-year career at Christ the King, will change his plea as part of an agreement with the Suffolk County DA. The coach known as "Shock" will make the shocking admission this morning, but he isn't expected to face any jail time.That has irked his accusers, whose testimony in front of a Boston grand jury, along with two others who claimed to be victims, helped land the indictment.
“This is certainly not justice to the victim in this case and the countless kids he abused in the last 40-plus years in his supervisory position as a coach and teacher,” former friend Sam Albano said. “It’s a consolation prize for us. We envisioned, after speaking with multiple legal sources that we had a strong case and that this monster would be put away for the rest of his life.”
Jimmy Carlino, who once called Oliva his godfather, went public with claims that Oliva molested him on a trip to Boston for a Yankees-Red Sox doubleheader at Fenway Park in 1976.Oliva stepped down as Christ the King coach in January, 2009, citing health problems. But that was a hoax, former friend and CK assistant coach Ray Paprocky said, just one of several lies Oliva told throughout his life.
“He lived in an altered reality and it finally caught up to him,” Paprocky said.
Paprocky, Albano and Carlino will also be in the courthouse this morning. They say it’s a bittersweet moment.
“Most people called him Bobby O, but I call him Bobby No,” Albano said. “This is a man who said he was a high school graduate, an all-city baseball player at John Adams, a college graduate and a Vietnam Vet and he is none of these. All he is now is an admitted pedophile.”
Contact: dbutler@nypost.com
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