UPDATED: Jan. 23, 1:26 a.m.

Zach Tomaselli, the third man to bring forth allegations of molestation against Bernie Fine, admitted to falsifying emails he forwarded to The Daily Orange and another media outlet.

Tomaselli, 23, of Lewiston, Maine, told The Daily Orange on Friday he doctored multiple emails and forwarded them to The Daily Orange and The Post-Standard in hopes the news outlets would report on them, resulting in more public support of his claims against Fine.

‘The biggest reason is support,’ Tomaselli said. ‘I felt like there was so much stuff that people didn’t know. The police were telling me that they knew my father was lying, but there’s no way for me to get that out. And that’s the only thing I could think of.’

The emails Tomaselli admitted to altering were made to look like they had been sent from the email account of Syracuse Police Department Detective Clark Farry to Tomaselli’s personal account. But before forwarding the emails, Tomaselli said he made changes and additions.

‘I made a mistake,’ Tomaselli said. ‘I made up a couple of lies, and it’s really biting me now.’

In text messages to The Daily Orange on Friday afternoon, Tomaselli said he plans to ask Syracuse police to end the Bernie Fine investigation.

‘Im guna ask the police to end the bernie fine investigation. I’m done,’ he wrote in one text message.

‘But he did do it. Im not lying,’ Tomaselli said in a second message.

In an email to multiple media outlets, including The Daily Orange, on Jan. 20, Tomaselli denied ever having mentioned asking the police to end the investigation of Bernie Fine. He also said he has ‘absolute confidence’ in the investigation and wants it to continue.

‘I have made a decision to suspend my civil action for the time being. However, I remain fully confident that ongoing investigations of the evidence surrounding the incident in Pittsburgh will continue.

‘In summary, I deny having made any request to any law enforcement authorities to suspend their investigations. My decision related to the civil action has nothing to do with their work.’

The first email that Tomaselli admitted to doctoring is dated Nov. 25, 2011, and was made to look like it had been sent from Farry to Tomaselli. The sentence Tomaselli specifically mentioned as being inserted called Tomaselli’s father a ‘liar’ and a ‘sick man,’ and it gave forth the belief that Tomaselli was molested by him.

A second email altered by Tomaselli was dated Dec. 16, 2011, and was also made to look like Farry had sent it. The sentence he specifically mentioned as being inserted said there was proof Tomaselli had been in Pittsburgh through game video and a staff member’s confession.

The Daily Orange questioned Tomaselli about this email upon receipt because the signature of the Dec. 16, 2011, email read, ‘Clarke,’ spelling Farry’s first name incorrectly. Originally, Tomaselli denied making changes to the email, but he admitted to altering the message and the misspelling in the signature on Friday.

Syracuse police Sgt. Tom Connellan referred calls to the U.S. attorney’s office in Syracuse. Connellan said Farry is not allowed to comment because the U.S. attorney’s office is handling it all. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Duncan said he could not comment.

Tomaselli said another reason for lying was to ‘counterattack’ the comments and assertions made by OnondagaCounty District Attorney William Fitzpatrick.

In an article published by The Post-Standard on Jan. 19, Fitzpatrick said Tomaselli told Syracuse police he attended an away game against the University of Connecticut during the 2001-02 season, and it was on that trip that he claims Fine molested him.

Fitzpatrick goes on to say that once authorities recognized Syracuse did not play Connecticut during that season, Tomaselli changed his story to say that he was abused in a Pittsburgh hotel room in January 2002.

‘Fitzpatrick is never going to admit this, but he’s lying,’ Tomaselli said. ‘I have to lie to counterattack Fitzpatrick sometimes. Fitzpatrick is a liar, and he’s making up horrible lies about me. And it’s just unreal. Unreal.’

Fitzpatrick responded to these claims by saying he felt sorry for Tomaselli, who he described as a very troubled young man.

‘I feel that anybody that legitimized this guy, particularly Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler, has done this community a tremendous disservice,’ Fitzpatrick said.

‘It should have been obvious to anybody early on that Zach Tomaselli was never at the Pittsburgh game in Pittsburgh. And if Fowler had any type of police ability, we would not be at this spot or at the situation we’re in right now. It’s very, very sad all around. It just goes to confirm what I said on Dec. 7.’

Though he admitted to altering the emails, Tomaselli maintained on Friday that his allegations against Fine are true. He said everything contained in the email is information he was told on the phone or in private by Syracuse police, but that he had no way to get that information out to the public.

‘Everything is true, but I had no way of getting it out,’ Tomaselli said. ‘I wanted to get it out. I wanted it to be reported.

‘You guys are reporters, and you guys caught me in a lie. So if I was lying about Bernie Fine, they (the police) would have known by now.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on January 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13