Fourth Man (New York Prison Inmate) Accuses Bernie Fine of Molestation

Floyd VanHooser, a 56-year-old man incarcerated for burglary, became the fourth man to publicly accuse former Syracuse associate head men’s basketball coach Bernie Fine of molestation, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported Thursday.

VanHooser told police that Fine sexually abused him as a child, beginning in the late 1960s, the paper reported. Police interviewed VanHooser last month, he told the Post-Standard.

In a prison interview, VanHooser said he was an orphan when Fine took him in and began sexually abusing him in 1969, when VanHooser was 14. He said he lived with Fine off and on for nearly 40 years.

VanHooser said the abuse began before Fine was hired at Syracuse; Fine was coaching in the Syracuse city school district at the time, he told the newspaper.

VanHooser told police about three incidents, the most recent being this past summer, when Fine pressured him to perform oral sex. He said that Fine gave VanHooser money at a later time. The last act was in exchange for $300, VanHooser told police, according to his interview with the Post-Standard.

A woman identified by the Post-Standard as VanHooser’s former girlfriend and the mother of his youngest child said VanHooser in 2001 or 2002 had told her of Fine’s actions.

VanHooser is serving 16 years to life at the Clinton Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison at the northern edge of the Adirondacks in New York, after being indicted on eight counts of burglary and petit larceny in four home break-ins, the paper reported.

VanHooser, who was sentenced July 29, told the Post-Standard that he wasn’t offered a possible shortened prison term or any special treatment in exchange for talking to police.

Fine was fired at Syracuse days after an ESPN “Outside The Lines” report detailed sexual-abuse allegations by Bobby Davis and Mike Lang, who are stepbrothers. A third man, Zach Tomaselli, told police weeks later that he, too, was molested by Fine.

Davis and Lang filed a defamation suit Tuesday against Syracuse and men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim, who had called the men “liars” on the day “OTL” broke the story about the allegations against Fine. Boeheim later apologized, saying he “misspoke very badly” in questioning the accusers’ motives and and regretted any harm he had caused.

Fine was fired Nov. 27 by the university. He has not been charged with any crimes, and denies the allegations.The U.S. Attorney’s Office is currently overseeing the investigation. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick has said the statute of limitations prevents a prosecution in New York state.

Last week, in a news conference, Fitzpatrick downplayed an unidentified fourth victim, saying that previous letters written to the district attorney’s office “to say it charitably, belie his claims of sexual abuse at the hands of Bernie Fine.”

-ESPN