One of the men who accused longtime Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of sexual abuse has admitted he made up the molestation story. According to Syracuse Post-Standard, Floyd “David” VanHooser—who is currently serving 16 years to life in prison for various burglary-related charges—wrote in a letter that he lied to police and reporters about Fine because he was upset Fine did not hire a lawyer for him to fight his most recent criminal conviction. He also wrote a second letter (read them both here) directly to Fine, apologizing and explaining his behavior: "I can't put into words how mad I've been at the world...I believe if you had got a good lawyer for me I would have done better than 16 to life or as I see it 16 to death."
Fine, who has coached at Syracuse for 35 years, has also been accused of molesting family friend Bobby Davis “hundreds of times” over a ten-year period, beginning when he was entering seventh grade, as well as Davis' stepbrother Mike Lang. Those two have enlisted the help of lawyer Gloria Allred to represent them in a defamation suit against the university and head coach Jim Boeheim. In addition, Zach Tomaselli claims Fine molested him in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room when Tomaselli was 13 years old.
Althought VanHooser's allegations could not have been the basis for criminal charges—because they were outside the statute of limitations—it could still have an impact on the other cases. Federal prosecutors may have cited the accusations when they applied to a judge for a warrant to search Fine's home (during which they hauled away three file cabinets as well as Fine’s cell phone and a computer), office and bank safe deposit box.
When interviewed by the Standard-Post whether his statement to police was true, VanHooser said only parts were: “Some of it is and some of it isn’t,” he said Friday. “You’re going to tell everyone how sorry I am?”
