Sex Abuse Allegation at Syracuse Basketball

[Indoor66]

A breaking story about sex abuse issues revolving around Bernie Fine - a Basketball assistant for more than thirty-five years.

[DevilOfATime]

I was about ready to post the same thing.

[SMO]

I was about ready to post the same thing.

Fire Boeheim. Too bad, I was looking forward to having him in the ACC.

[pfrduke]

Fire Boeheim. Too bad, I was looking forward to having him in the ACC.

This is an admittedly preliminary reaction based on a single article, but this doesn't seem to be a "fire Boeheim" situation. Notably, the part of the article saying that when these issues were brought to Syracuse, the university launched a 4-month investigation in which every person offered as a corroborating witness denied awareness of any wrongdoing.

[DevilOfATime]

This is an admittedly preliminary reaction based on a single article, but this doesn't seem to be a "fire Boeheim" situation. Notably, the part of the article saying that when these issues were brought to Syracuse, the university launched a 4-month investigation in which every person offered as a corroborating witness denied awareness of any wrongdoing.

I agree, I would like to hear more of this story first!!!!!

[JasonEvans]

This is an admittedly preliminary reaction based on a single article, but this doesn't seem to be a "fire Boeheim" situation. Notably, the part of the article saying that when these issues were brought to Syracuse, the university launched a 4-month investigation in which every person offered as a corroborating witness denied awareness of any wrongdoing.

Syracuse's reaction seems the exact opposite of Penn State's. They launched an extensive investigation and sought to go even further than the police did. They spoke to as many witnesses as they could and none of them could corroborate anything. ESPN even investigated it in 2003 and chose not to report anything at that time.

Maybe more will come up here, but right now it looks like Syracuse handled it quite well.

As for Fine, it sounds like he had an father-like relationship with this fatherless kid for more than a decade... either a case of a man giving tremendously of himself and having it thrown in his face or a case of a man grossly abusing his power over a defenseless child. Either way, this is ugly.

-Jason "not sure we will ever know the full truth here" Evans

[SMO]

This is an admittedly preliminary reaction based on a single article, but this doesn't seem to be a "fire Boeheim" situation. Notably, the part of the article saying that when these issues were brought to Syracuse, the university launched a 4-month investigation in which every person offered as a corroborating witness denied awareness of any wrongdoing.

My tongue-in-cheek-ometer was spiking as I wrote that.

[roywhite]

Syracuse's reaction seems the exact opposite of Penn State's. They launched an extensive investigation and sought to go even further than the police did. They spoke to as many witnesses as they could and none of them could corroborate anything. ESPN even investigated it in 2003 and chose not to report anything at that time.

Maybe more will come up here, but right now it looks like Syracuse handled it quite well.
As for Fine, it sounds like he had an father-like relationship with this fatherless kid for more than a decade... either a case of a man giving tremendously of himself and having it thrown in his face or a case of a man grossly abusing his power over a defenseless child. Either way, this is ugly.

-Jason "not sure we will ever know the full truth here" Evans

A little quick on conclusions here, Jason.

Now reports of a second person coming forward to indicate abuse from this coach.
The University has now put the coach on administrative leave.

Did Syracuse contact local police in 2005?

Did Boeheim have a pedophile working for him and not know it?

He said that Boeheim knew he was traveling on the road and sleeping in Fine's room.

"Boeheim saw me with Bernie all the time in the hotel rooms, on road trips," Davis said. "He'd come in, and see me laying in the bed, kind of glance at me like, 'What are you doing here?' But he wouldn't say that. He'd just scowl. And I would look at him like, I'd be nervous. I felt embarrassed 'cause I felt stupid that I'm there. I'm not supposed to be here. I know it, and Boeheim's not stupid."

So this is a possible abuse case and you're lauding Syracuse for their handling??

[basket1544]

If this is true, the world may be crumbling apart once again. If a coach brings a neighbor boy with him on the road (which is probably not a good idea), wouldn't it make sense that they would stay in the same hotel room? I've been accused of being naive before, but you wouldn't put a 10-12 year old boy in his own room without a chaperone. I guess we'll all know more soon.
I hope that the Penn State scandal helps others that have faced abuse come forward and know that they can face their accusers, but I also hope it doesn't create a backlash effect.

[Scorp4me]

A little quick on conclusions here, Jason.

Now reports of a second person coming forward to indicate abuse from this coach.
The University has now put the coach on administrative leave.

Did Syracuse contact local police in 2005?

Did Boeheim have a pedophile working for him and not know it?

So this is a possible abuse case and you're lauding Syracuse for their handling??

From the article I read on yahoo (which I must say was very even handed) it says Davis contacted the police and was told they could do nothing. Despite the police doing nothing Syracuse conducted the investigation when Davis contacted them. Hence the above and beyond comment from Jason.

The reports of a second person are from a relative of Davis. Not saying that makes it false, but something to consider.

Syracuse has placed the assistant on leave due to the police opening the case. The case is being reopened due to the second person.

It also says Boeheim did not know anything of the allegations.

So based on this it does sound like Syracuse has handled it as best they can.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketb...n=ncaab-wp6278

[roywhite]

From the article I read on yahoo (which I must say was very even handed) it says Davis contacted the police and was told they could do nothing. Despite the police doing nothing Syracuse conducted the investigation when Davis contacted them. Hence the above and beyond comment from Jason.

The reports of a second person are from a relative of Davis. Not saying that makes it false, but something to consider.

Syracuse has placed the assistant on leave due to the police opening the case. The case is being reopened due to the second person.

It also says Boeheim did not know anything of the allegations.

So based on this it does sound like Syracuse has handled it as best they can.http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketb...n=ncaab-wp6278

Or they missed ongoing sexual abuse, protected their coaches, and moved on.

A teen-aged boy, not a relative, travelling with the assistant coach??
Does that seem like a good idea?

Hopefully we learn the truth.

[-jk]

A little quick on conclusions here, Jason.

Now reports of a second person coming forward to indicate abuse from this coach.
The University has now put the coach on administrative leave.

Did Syracuse contact local police in 2005?

Did Boeheim have a pedophile working for him and not know it?



So this is a possible abuse case and you're lauding Syracuse for their handling??

Regrettably, evil people abound in all walks of life. And they look just like the rest of us.

We can only do so much. One of our country's founding principles is the presumption of innocence.

A single report was made. A reportedly thorough investigation followed which found nothing to corroborate it.

How did the 'Cuse fail? Do we shoot first and ask questions later? How is that more just?

This is a problem dating as far back as the Salem witch trials. Where do we draw the line between the truly evil person and the false accusation? To whom do we lend credence?

Our best hope is for an honest, ethical due process, knowing that even when honest and ethical it's never perfect. We can only do our best - however flawed that may be.

-jk

[BD80]

Regrettably, evil people abound in all walks of life. And they look just like the rest of us.

We can only do so much. One of our country's founding principles is the presumption of innocence.

A single report was made. A reportedly thorough investigation followed which found nothing to corroborate it.

How did the 'Cuse fail? Do we shoot first and ask questions later? How is that more just?

This is a problem dating as far back as the Salem witch trials. Where do we draw the line between the truly evil person and the false accusation? To whom do we lend credence?

Our best hope is for an honest, ethical due process, knowing that even when honest and ethical it's never perfect. We can only do our best - however flawed that may be.

-jk

It is just so easy, if the accused weighs the same as a duck, he must burn:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTdDN_MRe64

I do recommend people watch the video, there is something familiar about the rush to judgment.

[loran16]

The police never did anything because by the time it was reported, it was beyond the statute of limitations. Despite this, Cuse launched an investigation, and an INDEPENDENT AGENT (ESPN's Outside the Lines) launched their own, and found no corroboration.

Totally possible that this is indeed another sad case of molestation. But the school did nothing wrong.

[dcdevil2009]

Wait, so now a university is competent to investigate accusations? I'm not drawing any conclusions about either the PSU or Syracuse claims, just pointing out that it's inconsistent to give Syracuse the benefit of the doubt but attack Paterno if Schultz/Curley had lied to him about the results of their investigation.

[loran16]

Wait, so now a university is competent to investigate accusations? I'm not drawing any conclusions about either the PSU or Syracuse claims, just pointing out that it's inconsistent to give Syracuse the benefit of the doubt but attack Paterno if Schultz/Curley had lied to him about the results of their investigation.

DCDevil, the point is that it's not JUST the university that investigated the claim in 2003. Both ESPN Outside the Lines and the Syracuse Post-Standard had the story in 2003, investigated it, and found nothing to corroborate the claim (See http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.s...niversity.html).

[Des Esseintes]

Wait, so now a university is competent to investigate accusations? I'm not drawing any conclusions about either the PSU or Syracuse claims, just pointing out that it's inconsistent to give Syracuse the benefit of the doubt but attack Paterno if Schultz/Curley had lied to him about the results of their investigation.

No, man. That is not what anyone is saying. When the Syracuse complaint was made to the authorities, the statute of limitations had run out, so the police could not act. Syracuse, additionally, on top of the efforts of the law, conducted its own investigation. Four months. Penn State, near as we can tell, "conducted an investigation" by having a couple of conversations behind closed doors and neglecting to phone the police.

[burnspbesq]

From the article I read on yahoo (which I must say was very even handed) it says Davis contacted the police and was told they could do nothing. ... The case is being reopened due to the second person.

Something is missing here.

Syracuse.com is reporting that the reason the Syracuse PD didn't investigate in 2003 is that the statute of limitations had expired. New York has a very short statute (five years). The second accuser is 45 years old. If only conduct after 2006 can be prosecuted ... the arithmetic here has me scratching my head.

[BD80]

Something is missing here.

Syracuse.com is reporting that the reason the Syracuse PD didn't investigate in 2003 is that the statute of limitations had expired. New York has a very short statute (five years). The second accuser is 45 years old. If only conduct after 2006 can be prosecuted ... the arithmetic here has me scratching my head.

I think you need to add a $ or two in your calculations.

[-bdbd]

A little quick on conclusions here, Jason.

Now reports of a second person coming forward to indicate abuse from this coach.
The University has now put the coach on administrative leave.

Did Syracuse contact local police in 2005?

Did Boeheim have a pedophile working for him and not know it?



So this is a possible abuse case and you're lauding Syracuse for their handling??

Are you implying that any school which has an employee accused of child abuse is, ipso facto, unlaudable of their handling??? And what if the charges proove to be uncorroborated or unsubstantiated, or an ulterior motive manifests itself?? It is waaay too early to make judgements here.

According to ESPN's Sports Center there are, indeed, two accusers now. They showed footage of an interview with (the original) accuser. It does appear that this case WAS handled quite differently than the way PSU handled theirs. Syracuse apparently conducted a full and open investigation, interviewing all of the supposed witnesses the kid identified would support his story, and NONE of them confirmed his accusations. Also, they brought in the police. PSU apparently did none of these things.

Another data point is that Boeheim has issued a rather forceful statement defending his assistant and directly accusing the kid of lying. That tells me a lot, b/c JB is clearly putting his neck on the line in defense of his assistant, which you don't do at all casually.

BD- "Let's see what unfolds in the coming days/weeks and what the second accuser says before judging" -BD