Zachary Tomaselli is a liar and sexual predator.
The Lewiston man went to prison Wednesday to serve a hard three years for sexually abusing a young boy. This, after months of portraying himself as a victim of former Syracuse coach Bernie Fine and of the media.
Tomaselli is not a victim, and his cycle of making, retracting and reasserting criminal accusations makes it difficult for real victims of sexual abuse to step forward and confront their abusers.
At 1:07 a.m. Wednesday, hours before he was scheduled to report for prison, Tomaselli sent a 1,661-word e-mail to 22 media organizations and others retracting his April 11 retraction of sex abuse accusations he made against Fine (Fine has never been charged).
He retracted his retraction, he said, because he was mad at the New York student journalist who reported his retraction in The Daily Orange, an independent student newspaper published in Syracuse. In fact, he was so angry he called and texted that journalist hundreds of times the day the retraction interview was published.
That’s a lot of anger.
Tomaselli claims to have suffered from a “complete psychiatric breakdown last week (and) I do not remember half of my interviews” he granted to various journalists.
“I am sick of the media following me around and reporting negative stuff about my life,” Tomaselli wrote.
The media was following him around because he injected himself into a national story by making serious criminal accusations against Fine. And, the media did write negative stuff about his life because he sexually abused a teenager that he had befriended, and then violated the terms of his release after he was charged with 11 sex crimes.
Since he went public with the (so far discredited) Fine accusations, Tomaselli has sent more than a dozen e-mails to media outlets, keeping journalists updated on his feelings about that investigation and about the sex abuse charges Tomaselli himself faced in Maine.
At the end of each one of the e-mails — including the one sent Wednesday — he begged the media to stop calling him and stop writing him, even though he’s the one who has instigated much of the contact with the media, making a special effort to ensure dozens of broadcasters and print journalists in Maine, Pennsylvania and New York have his cell phone number and e-mail address.
In what he calls his “ final e-mail” to the media Wednesday, he praised the respectful level of support from law enforcement and the general community he has received during his ordeal, noting that members of the Tripp Middle School soccer team he coached a few years ago “surprised me with a party at Buffalo Wild Wings” earlier this week.
These former players — all of whom are now 18 years old, he said — pitched in “and made jackets commemorating our team and they made me a jacket with my name on it and the word coach on it.”
There was no party at Buffalo Wild Wings.
No jackets exchanged.
Tomaselli is a liar.
A liar who, after making criminal accusations and issuing multiple press releases about these accusations, is now begging the media to “stop questioning me, the victim.”
Tomaselli is the victim?
The boy he molested and then threatened so the teen would remain silent is the victim here. Not Tomaselli.
Tomaselli is a nothing but a crook.
The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.
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