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ScreamingMeemie

(68,918 posts)
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 11:51 AM Apr 2012

Bernie Fine accuser fabricated story

Source: ESPN

snip-

Zach Tomaselli, one of the men who accused former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of child sexual abuse, says he has been lying the past few months and was not abused by Fine.

"It has become a burden of a lie and I am sick of it," Tomaselli said in a email to Syracuse website CNYCentral.com. "Bobby Davis told me what to tell detectives and it pretty much took off from there. The evidence that supports me is just pure luck, not real evidence. I made the ENTIRE thing up. I have never met Bernie in my life."

Davis, a ball boy for Syracuse teams in the 1980s, and his stepbrother Mike Lang have accused Fine of molesting them during the 1980s and '90s.

Davis spoke with ESPN's Mark Schwarz on Friday and denied telling Tomaselli details of his alleged interactions with Fine.

-snip




Read more: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7809174/syracuse-orange-bernie-fine-case-accuser-says-made-allegations



I am beginning to think an innocent man may have had his life ruined.
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gateley

(62,683 posts)
1. It seems we're always too willing to accept the words of the accuser(s) -- probably
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 11:59 AM
Apr 2012

because we HATE what may have actually happened to them and don't want a perpetrator to go free. Especially in molestation cases, I always think "why would someone open themselves up to this pain and scrutiny if it weren't true?"

I wonder if the charges by Davis and Lane have merit. If so, they've placed themselves under a cloud of suspicion, too, for their duplicitous actions in recruiting this guy.

What a mess.


 

rfranklin

(13,200 posts)
2. What "duplicitous actions?" ....I did not see that in the article cited here...
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 12:14 PM
Apr 2012
I do see that Tomaselli is not a reliable character...


In a phone interview with CNYCentral, Tomaselli said "It was a game to me. It was fun trying to make this story come alive." By email, Tomaselli went on, "I NEVER met Bernie fine or went to an autograph session. I sat in the nosebleeds at the Pitt game at the (Carrier) Dome in '03 but that is it. I lied."

As for why he misled the authorities, prosecutors, the media and the public at large for so long, Tomaselli wrote to CNYCentral, "I don't have feelings most of the time. I just hate people without caring," adding that he was motivated by a strong dislike for the Syracuse basketball program because it beat his favorite team, Kansas, in the 2003 NCAA championship game.

Tomaselli, 23, was sentenced Wednesday to three years and three months in prison for sexually abusing a teen at a summer camp in Maine.
 

LanternWaste

(37,748 posts)
3. And also, I would imagine, because these abuses happen quite often.
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 12:14 PM
Apr 2012

"probably because we HATE what may have actually happened..."

And also, I would imagine, because it's been illustrated that these abuses happen quite often.

However, even though one molestation charge against the Catholic Church (Cardinal Joseph Bernardin - 1993) turned out to be falsified, I certainly don't think that places any suspicion or doubt on the collective indictments against the remainder of abuses.

 

LanternWaste

(37,748 posts)
9. No, I don't. That would be an inductive fallacy.
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 01:16 PM
Apr 2012

"You don't?!"

No, I don't. That would be, I believe, an inductive fallacy.

Psephos

(8,032 posts)
13. Yet it is induction that cemented the "obvious" guilt of all priests in the public mind.
Sat Apr 14, 2012, 10:46 PM
Apr 2012

Mind you, I say that as someone whom a priest tried to abuse. Most of them were and are good men. Some were emphatically not. The same tar brush was used on them all.

This book is a good prescription against the inherent dangers of induction.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Nassim-Nicholas-Taleb/dp/1400063515

 

Kelvin Mace

(17,469 posts)
7. Hmmmm...
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 12:51 PM
Apr 2012

The problem is that false allegations do happen, but are rare, and generally found in bitter custody battles.

I can offer an alternate explanation for a recantation: He was quietly offered a huge sum of money to recant. If this is NOT the case, then I would expect a criminal/civil case to be filed against him. If one is not filed, it would lend more credence to my explanation.

 

MannyGoldstein

(34,589 posts)
8. This is why we have a justice system
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 01:11 PM
Apr 2012

Although many - even some on DU - don't seem to like all of the formal due process stuff and want to get right to the hanging. The good news for these folks is that our elected officials are removing that due process nonsense piece by piece - Patriot Act, NDAA, etc.

bullwinkle428

(20,629 posts)
10. Wait a minute - aren't there audio tapes of Fine's wife contacting at least one
Fri Apr 13, 2012, 01:53 PM
Apr 2012

of the alleged victims, encouraging him to keep quiet about it?

Edit : Okay, Tomaselli was the third accuser that surfaced after the first two accusers came forth, in a desperate attempt to use the accusation to somehow explain away his own abuse of kids, prior to his sentencing.

 

Bradical79

(4,490 posts)
12. Shouldn't have much effect on the case against Fine overall
Sat Apr 14, 2012, 09:16 PM
Apr 2012

This guy was the 3rd to accuse fine, and clearly has severe mental problems (sociopath?) as a person who molests kids and then admittedly makes a "game" out of another molestation case. I'm sure Fine's lawyers will try to use it, but I don't see it being a reasonable argument to call into doubt the claims of the first two accusers.

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