Less than one week after recanting his initial accusations of sexual abuse against Bernie Fine, Zach Tomaselli changed his story again Wednesday, claiming that he was abused by Fine.

Tomaselli released a statement to national media outlets Wednesday that directly contradicted the previous statements he made Friday. After becoming frustrated with the media, Tomaselli said he lashed out by lying to The Post-Standard about his interactions with Fine.

‘Yes, my credibility with the media is shot, but I am not going to give up now,’ Tomaselli said in the statement. ‘Bernie molested me. PERIOD.’

Tomaselli, 23, of Lewiston, Maine, originally accused the former Syracuse University associate men’s basketball coach of molesting him in a Pittsburgh hotel room in 2002 during an away game. Fine has denied the claims and has not been charged.

Last week, Tomaselli claimed he had never actually met Fine and had lied for months to corroborate the story of Bobby Davis, the first man to make allegations against the coach.

A few days later, Tomaselli said he had a ‘complete psychiatric breakdown’ when he recanted.

‘It has become a burden of a lie and I am sick of it,’ Tomaselli said in an email to The Daily Orange and other media outlets Friday. ‘Bobby Davis told me what to tell detectives and it pretty much took off from there. The evidence that supports me is just pure luck, not real evidence. I made the ENTIRE thing up. I have never met Bernie in my life.’

When ESPN’s Mark Schwarz spoke with Davis last week, Davis denied ever disclosing any details about his time with Fine to Tomaselli.

‘I never said anything like that at all to the kid,’ Davis told ESPN. ‘I just spoke to him a couple minutes. There were like two phone calls between us and they lasted a total of three to four minutes.

Tomaselli reported for a three-year and three-month prison sentence Wednesday for sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy who attended a summer camp where Tomaselli used to be a counselor.

egsawyer@syr.edu

Published on April 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Liz: egsawyer@syr.edu | @3sawyer