The founder of a legendary New York City AAU basketball program was indicted on charges he sexually assaulted a player during a team trip to Massachusetts three decades ago, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Ernie Lorch, who started and coached for renowned Riverside Church in Harlem, was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday on charges of attempted rape and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Jane Mulqueen told the Associated Press.
Mulqueen, the chief of the office’s child abuse division, said Lorch, 78, is accused of abusing a player, then 17, during a trip to a tournament at the University of Massachusetts. The incident in question happened between March 1977 and April 1978 and Lorch also tried to rape the player, according to the indictment.
Lorch, a Westchester native, has been summoned to appear for arraignment, Mulqueen said, though a date has not been set and she was uncertain if he’d been notified about the indictment. Mulqueen said Lorch could be charged in the 32-year-old case because the clock on the statute of limitations froze once he left Massachusetts after the tournament.
Riverside Church’s alumni include Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, Elton Barand and Ron Artest. Lorch resigned in 2003 after three decades, following allegations of sexual abuse by former player Robert Holmes. The program fell apart then, losing its Nike sponsorship, but was resurrected by current director Mark Jerome in 2005. Riverside’s youth teams have started having success on the AAU circuit, but there aren’t many big-time players like there once was.
“In my personal judgment, whatever they say he’s done, I wish it would reevaluated,” said Iona College legend Tony Hargraves, who coaches Riverside’s U17 team, played for the program and has known Lorch for more than 30 years. … “I don’t think the truth has come to light. Mr. Lorch has done so much for so many, it’s unfortunate that his legacy has been marred by this. I hope that people remember him for the good as opposed to what seemingly has become the bad.”
Added Christ the King assistant coach Artie Cox, a former coach at Riverside: “I never saw any improprieties, all the years I was around him, never saw things or was told anything by kids. Nobody came and said Coach, Mr. Lorch is doing something to me. Never heard a word.”
With the Associated Press