Wednesday, December 21, 2011

3rd accuser of Syracuse coach pleads guilty to child sex charges


By the CNN Wire Staff

December 21, 2011 -- Updated 0657 GMT (1457 HKT)
Zachary Tomaselli, who alleges a former Syracuse University coach molested him, has pleaded guilty to charges that he sexually abused a teenage boy.
Zachary Tomaselli, who alleges a former Syracuse University coach molested him, has pleaded guilty to charges that he sexually abused a teenage boy.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Zachary Tomaselli faces a maximum of three years, three months in prison
  • "I take complete responsibility for what I did," he tells CNN
  • Tomaselli, 23, is currently out on bail
(CNN) -- Zachary Tomaselli, the third man to publicly allege that former Syracuse University coach Bernie Fine molested him, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he sexually abused a teenage boy.
Under the terms of the deal, Tomaselli faces a maximum of three years and three months in prison, said defense attorney Justin Leary.
Tomaselli originally faced 11 charges, including gross sexual assault, in Maine involving alleged assaults against a then 13- and 14-year-old in 2009 and 2010. The two had grown close when Tomaselli was the teen's summer camp counselor.
Seven of those charges were dropped, Leary said, and Tomaselli pleaded guilty to gross sexual assault, unlawful sexual contact and two counts of visual sexual aggression towards a minor.
Tomaselli, 23, had told CNN earlier this month that he planned to plead guilty.
"I take complete responsibility for what I did," he said by phone from Lewiston, Maine.
Tomaselli, who is currently out on bail, is the third man to say publicly that Fine molested him. Mike Lang and his stepbrother, Bobby Davis, have also stepped forward to accuse the former men's assistant basketball coach of molesting them over several years.
Tomaselli said he and Fine watched pornography together before Fine fondled him in a hotel room in Pittsburgh, where he'd gone to watch a Syracuse game in 2002. He was 13 years old when the alleged abuse occurred.
Police in Syracuse and Pittsburgh are investigating the allegations and looking for other potential victims, authorities have said.
When the allegations first surfaced, Fine -- married with a son and two daughters -- called them "patently false." He has not commented since.
CNN's Kristen Hamill and Ronni Berke contributed to this report.

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