Ex-NYC coach is indicted in Hub rape

Bob Oliva, who resigned last year as longtime basketball coach at Christ the King Regional High School in Queens, was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury on two counts of rape of a child, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, and one count of disseminating pornography to a minor.

Oliva is accused of showing the boy pornography and raping him while they were staying at the Sheraton Boston hotel between July 31 and Aug. 1, 1976, according to the Suffolk district attorneys office.

Oliva, 65, of Lynbrook, N.Y., has not been arrested and will be summoned to court to face arraignment, officials said. No date has been set.

Oliva, looks forward to coming before the court and clearing his name, said his attorney, Michael Doolin of Boston. He hasnt done any of these acts of which hes been accused.

Doolin said the charges only surfaced several years ago, which he said a jury should consider.

I think that Bob Oliva is a guy who has had an impeccable career, Doolin said. Hes a very well respected, very decent guy, and I think hell be found not guilty of these charges.

Boston attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents the alleged victim, Jimmy Carlino, said, My client feels that the indictment in and of itself speaks volumes about the substance of the allegations.

In an interview last year with the New York Daily News, Carlino, now 48 and living in Florida, alleged that Oliva sexually abused him over a period of years during the 1970s when he was a teenager growing up in Queens and Oliva was a basketball coach and tavern owner.

The New York statute of limitations expired long ago, so it was too late for authorities there to pursue charges against Oliva.

But Boston police and Suffolk County prosecutors were able to present evidence to a grand jury about the sexual assaults that occurred in Boston because the clock on the Massachusetts statute stopped in 1976, when Oliva crossed state lines and returned to New York.

This case is strong, its solid, and it should be brought, notwithstanding the passage of time, because the victim deserves an opportunity for justice, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a telephone interview yesterday.

The Globe reported earlier this month that, according to sources familiar with the proceedings, a roster of New Yorkers with connections to Oliva had testified before the grand jury. The sources requested anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret.

Oliva resigned in January 2009, after Carlino made the rape allegations.

Before that, Oliva enjoyed legendary status in New Yorks high school basketball world.

He coached Christ the Kings boys basketball team for 27 seasons, winning five city championships and amassing a 549-181 record.

At least two of his players made it to the NBA, Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Jayson Williams, formerly of the New Jersey Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Rev. Robert Hoatson a Catholic priest and cofounder of the Road to Recovery, an organization that offers support to victims of clergy sexual abuse said that he is counseling Carlino and that Carlino was relieved by Olivas indictment.

He still has mixed feelings, having liked this guy for so long and now having him indicted, said Hoatson.