By Laura Crimaldi
Boston Herald
April 4, 2011
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0404legendary_new_york_coach_pleads_guilty_to_sex_assault/srvc=home&position=recent
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| Robert Oliva, center, pleads guilty at Suffolk Superior Court to having sexually assaulted a boy, then 14, during a trip to Boston in 1976. His attorney Michael Doolin is pictured at left. |
A legendary New York City high school basketball coach was sentenced to five years of probation today after pleading guilty to charges he sexually molested a 14-year-old boy while at a Boston hotel in 1976 for a Red Sox [team stats]-Yankees game.
Robert Oliva, 66, who coached Los Angeles Lakers star Lamar Odom and former New Jersey Net Jayson Williams, pleaded guilty during an emotional hearing where he was confronted by his victim, who is also his godson.
“I now realize I lost my childhood to Bob Oliva,” said the victim, 49, of Florida, who broke down while delivering his victim-impact statement.
After the hearing, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol Ball embraced the victim. He said she told him he delivered the best victim-impact statement she’s ever heard.
The man delivered the statement in front of supporters, including former Major League Baseball pitcher Allen Watson, 40, who says Oliva showed him pornography and masturbated in front of him while he was his baseball and basketball coach. Watson has hired civil attorney Mitchell Garabedian. He said Oliva never molested him.
A Suffolk County grand jury indicted Oliva last March on two counts of statutory rape of a child and one count of distributing pornography, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. The law stops the statute of limitations on criminal cases when a suspect leaves the state, Wark said.
Oliva will serve the sentence in South Carolina, where he now lives. Ball ordered him to comply with S.C. laws related to sex offender registration and GPS monitoring.
The victim filed a civil suit on Friday in a New York court against Oliva, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and others, according to a copy of a complaint provided by Garabedian.
The victim came forward several years ago, Garabedian said. Prosecutors said Oliva assaulted the teen twice and showed him a pornographic movie from July 30-31, 1976 while at the Sheraton in Boston. The victim alleges Oliva molested him more than 100 times in Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Florida and Canada between the ages of 12 and 16, Garabedian said.
“His coping mechanism allowed him to come forward within the last few years. He wanted to try to heal to at least a small degree by coming forward,” Garabedian said. “(He) feels a lot of pain about this matter and he wants to protect children from being sexually molested by Mr. Oliva.”
Oliva and the victim met through youth sports activities conducted in the Diocese of Brooklyn, Garabedian said.
“What Mr. Oliva did would entice the child by taking them on these trips,” said Garabedian.
As a coach at the Queens high school, Oliva won four basketball titles.
-— lcrimaldi@bostonherald.com
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