Tomaselli Statement Tomaselli Complaint

LEWISTON — The attorney for a local man who claims former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine molested him in 2002 says he’s filing a lawsuit to rebut claims by Fine’s attorneys and a prosecutor that the man isn’t credible.

The lawyer, Jeffrey Anderson, says he would have preferred to sue Fine after federal prosecutors in New York finish their investigation into Fine. Two former ball boys in the 1980s and Anderson’s client, 23-year-old Zachary Tomaselli, have accused the ex-coach of molestation.

Fine’s attorneys seized on comments made Wednesday by Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who said Tomaselli’s school records and the team’s travel records contradict Tomaselli’s claims that he was in Pittsburgh with Fine back then.

In a brief text exchange with the Sun Journal, Tomaselli said the district attorney never claimed to have proof of the discrepancy.

“The U.S. Attorney is in charge of my case anyways,” Tomaselli said, “not Fitzpatrick.”

Tomaselli, who lives locally with his grandmother, was in Pittsburgh on Thursday for a news conference to explain his lawsuit.

Meanwhile, a judge at Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn issued an order denying Tomaselli’s motion to suppress possibly incriminating statements he made to a local police detective in sex-assault charges Tomaselli faces at home.

He is accused of assaulting in 2009 and 2010 a 13-year-old boy he met at a day camp where he worked as a counselor.

The judge presiding over the case viewed a three-hour videotaped police interrogation before denying Tomaselli’s motion. Justice MaryGay Kennedy wrote that the detective’s misstatement of the state’s statute regarding gross sexual assault “is not the type or degree that would strip the defendant of his free will and render his statement involuntary.”

Tomaselli was indicted by an Androscoggin County grand jury on 11 counts in April. The indictment comprises four felonies and seven misdemeanors, including gross sexual assault, a Class A felony, tampering with a victim, a Class B felony, and two counts of unlawful sexual contact, Class C felonies.

In a Monday interview with The Associated Press in Portland, Tomaselli admitted to the charges. He said he realized since getting counseling that he had been grooming the boy for a relationship. He told a reporter he expects to plead guilty.

Justin Leary, who represents Tomaselli on the criminal charges, said he and his client are scheduled to meet next week to discuss his local case. Discussions with the local District Attorney’s Office about a possible plea are ongoing, he said.

Regarding Justice Kennedy’s decision, Leary said: “it looks like she gave a lot of thought and consideration” to his motion before composing her five-page order.

If the criminal case were to go to trial, Leary said it might be difficult to pick a jury that hasn’t heard of Tomaselli’s national story.

“That was something on my mind” once his client went national with his allegations against Fine last month, Leary said. The possible need for a change of venue “would certainly be a consideration,” he said.

Two men, Bobby Davis and Michael Lang, say Fine abused them when they were boys in the 1980s. The statute of limitations expired five years after the alleged abuse occurred. On Wednesday, Onondaga County DA Fitzpatrick said he believed Fine abused the men but said he could not bring state charges because the statute of limitations had expired.

The federal statute of limitations in place in 2002, when Tomaselli says he was abused by Fine in a hotel room, allowed a victim to bring charges until he was 25; Tomaselli is 23.

Fine, who was fired, has denied the claims. And Fitzpatrick has said school and travel records may undercut Tomaselli’s account.

Fine’s lawyers, Donald Martin and Karl Sleight, said in a statement that it appears records Fitzpatrick has turned over to the defense show “that there is proof that Tomaselli fabricated this allegation.”