SYRACUSE — The third man to accuse former Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of sexual assault reportedly said Friday he wants to drop the case, adding he only had “a couple weeks left to live.”
Zach Tomaselli, who claimed Fine molested him nearly a decade ago, dropped the bombshell retraction just hours after admitting to The Post-Standard he had doctored emails to bolster his case against the former basketball coach.
“I’m just guna ask the police to drop the investigation on Fine. I’m sick of this,” Tomaselli wrote in a text message to The Post-Standard. “I have a couple weeks left to live. I want to be left alone,” he added.
The 23-year-old Maine resident, who himself pleaded guilty in December to sexually abusing a teenage boy, told the Syracuse paper he doctored the emails to convince reporters that investigators believed his claims.
Tomaselli alleged Fine abused him in a Pittsburgh hotel room while he traveled with the Syracuse basketball team in 2002 at age 13. He filed a civil lawsuit against Fine on Dec. 8.
Tomaselli could face up to three years and three months in prison for his guilty plea, according to The Post-Standard. He is scheduled to be sentenced in February.