Advocates for victims of child sexual abuse called on Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick on Thursday morning to organize a grand jury with an independent prosecutor to investigate additional crimes of Bernie Fine, former associate men’s basketball coach at Syracuse University.

The advocates gathered on the corner of South Crouse Avenue and Waverly Avenue near the entrance to the university by Crouse-Hinds Hall at 10:30 a.m. Thursday and addressed media members during a news conference at about 11 a.m. Three of the five advocates gathered held signs against sexual abuse. One read, ‘Children must have a voice.’ Another read, ‘Sexual abuse of little boys and girls is soul murder.’

Robert Hoatson, president and co-founder of Road to Recovery, said after the news conference he would like to see the district attorney look into the possibility of more victims of Fine. Road to Recovery is a group that provides support to victims of sexual abuse, primarily by members of the clergy.

‘We want a total saturation of the community and anywhere else,’ he said. ‘Maybe a special prosecutor who can now talk to everybody — Fine victims, talk to (Jim) Boeheim, talk to (Nancy) Cantor, anybody else that may have anything to do with this. Anybody involved with the 2005 investigation, the Syracuse police, the Syracuse University police and the DA’s office and find out what went wrong and then hold those people accountable in some way.’

Advocates also called on New York state residents to push their legislators to pass the Markey Bill, which would extend the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse and include churches and sports leagues among those who must report allegations of child sexual abuse.

Hoatson was in Syracuse on Nov. 21 to reach out to victims in response to Jim Boeheim’s ‘outlandish remarks’ toward Bobby Davis and Mike Lang, the first accusers to come out publicly against Fine. While in Faegan’s Cafe & Pub having lunch that day, Hoatson said he got a phone call from a woman who said she was the ex-girlfriend of a man who was abused by Fine as a child.

Hoatson said the woman contacted the Syracuse Police Department and the district attorney’s office about the abuse.

‘They supposedly interviewed this man,’ Hoatson said. ‘They came back with the findings yesterday and said he was not worthy to believe. To say that about any human being, is just unfair. The family is destroyed over those comments yesterday.’

Regarding the fourth alleged victim, who is currently serving a life sentence as a repeat felony offender, Fitzpatrick said ‘there is no victim No. 4’ at a news conference Wednesday morning. But he did say there is ‘little doubt that an appropriate relationship existed’ between Fine and former ball boy Davis.

Hoatson said the fourth alleged victim’s family wants to see an open, honest investigation carried out — not the district attorney failing to recognize the claims of an alleged victim.

‘So we need openness and transparency and don’t let the fact that this man may be in prison or has been in prison or will be in prison get in the way of that,’ he said. ‘If the crime happened then, it’s still a crime. And use that information, to determine the viability of the accusations.’

The ex-girlfriend has known the alleged victim since a young age, as they were both teenagers together, Hoatson said. The alleged abuse between Fine and the fourth alleged victim is believed to have happened before Fine was employed by the university, he said. But the alleged abuse did happen in Syracuse, Hoatson said.

Fine was fired Nov. 27 in his 36th season at SU.

Hoatson said the ex-girlfriend is willing to speak to the district attorney’s office and SPD about what she knows. He said he was disappointed that Fitzpatrick didn’t go any further and interview more people to get as much information as possible about the alleged fourth victim.

‘If I were the DA, I would say, ‘Wow, we’re not just talking about Syracuse University now, we’re talking about times outside of Syracuse.’ So it extends the antennae of abuse to other areas,’ Hoatson said.

Hoatson said the woman has significant corroborative evidence of the alleged abuse between her ex-boyfriend and Fine, something the district attorney should pay attention to.

‘I think he’s going to eat his words again because eventually, whether he’s in prison or he’s the Boston Strangler or he’s Mother Teresa, if he was abused as a child, that’s the issue,’ Hoatson said. ‘What he did as an adult in terms of burglary or robbery or killing has to be taken separate from the accusation you’re looking at because many sexual abuse victims go off track.’

The fourth alleged victim, Hoatson said, didn’t have a good home life and faced tough economic conditions, something that makes coping with sexual abuse difficult.

‘So what did he do? He survived,’ Hoatson said. ‘He stole and he robbed and he did drugs and he drank.’

jdharr04@syr.edu 

Published on December 8, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jon: jdharr04@syr.edu