By Michael O'keeff
New York Daily News
January 21, 2010
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high_school/2010/01/21/2010-01-21_sex_probe_builds_vs_exck_coach.html
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| Jimmy Carlino (l.) and ex-Christ the King coach Bob Oliva (r.) take in an ALCS game between Yankees and Royals in 1978. |
Authorities in Boston appear to be wrapping up their investigation into allegations that Bob Oliva, the legendary Christ the King Regional High School boys basketball coach who resigned last year amid allegations of sexual abuse, molested a family friend during a trip to Massachusetts more than 30 years ago.
One former Oliva associate who requested anonymity said Suffolk County, Mass., prosecutors had asked him if he would appear before a grand jury. Two men who claim they were also abused by Oliva said they were recently interviewed by investigators who asked them to corroborate information obtained by other witnesses. Both asked for anonymity.
"He said he wanted to follow up on questions they had asked me earlier," one of the men said, referring to a Suffolk County investigator. "He said they are really going hard at this."
Oliva, who did not return an e-mail request for comment, has vociferously denied the sexual abuse allegations.
Boston police initiated the investigation in March 2009, and Sgt. Det. John Donovan of Boston's Crimes Against Children Unit has interviewed several people close to Oliva or his alleged victim, Jimmy Carlino.
Carlino told the Daily News last year that Oliva, his coach at the St. Teresa of Avila youth basketball program in Queens, had molested him for several years during the 1970s, when Carlino was a teen. Carlino's attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, declined to discuss the investigation Wednesday.
Sources told The News that most of the alleged abuse took place in New York, but Carlino has said there was an incident in Boston as well, when Carlino accompanied Oliva to a Yankees-Red Sox doubleheader at Fenway Park in 1976.
It would be difficult for authorities in New York to prosecute Oliva because of statute of limitation issues, but Massachusetts officials wouldn't face such hurdles if they found evidence that Oliva had abused Carlino: the statute of limitations there stops ticking when a suspect leaves the state.
"An investigation that reaches so far back in time is not uncommon for this office, but our policy is not to confirm or deny such an investigation in the absence of criminal charges," said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office. "At this time no one has been charged in connection with this case."
In April of 2008, a law firm representing Carlino sent a letter to Oliva outlining the pain the coach had allegedly caused his former friend and asked for $750,000 and Oliva's resignation from Christ the King.
Oliva refused, and Christ the King called the letter a shakedown attempt. Oliva took a leave of absence from the Royals, citing heart problems caused by stress, and resigned in January 2009.
Oliva led Christ the King, a perennial city basketball power, for 27 years and won five city championships. Dozens of his players graduated to Division I programs, and several, including Lakers star Lamar Odom and former Nets center Jayson Williams, played in the NBA.
Thomas Ognibene, the former city councilman who serves on the Queens high school's board of trustees, said Christ the King officials are following the investigation, but noted that Oliva is no longer employed by the school and Carlino was never a Christ the King student.
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