by Jerry Burke
After being cleared of the 12 most serious charges against him in Nassau County court in October, Colman, 36, was transferred last week to Rikers Island and is awaiting trial in Queens County court on 19 additional counts including first- and second-degree sodomy, second-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
Colman was found guilty of two charges of endangering the welfare of a child, each carrying a sentence of one year. Because he has remained in custody at the Nassau County jail in East Meadow since his arrest on May 17, 2001, his sentence would expire on the same date in 2003. He was held on $110,000 bail, but declined to post it.
According to Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Gregg Turkin, Colman often took the boys to soccer matches throughout the tri-state area. Turkin said that Colman and the players would stay overnight in motels and sometimes at Colman's home, where he lived with his parents.
Turkin said the Nassau allegations stemmed from a pair of sleepovers last March 24 and April 14 at his Ludlam Avenue home in Elmont. Two boys alleged that Colman abused them while three of them slept on a mattress in his living room.
In the trial, both boys, who were 11 at the time of the incidents, testified that Colman fondled them. Their testimony was backed up by one of the victims' 15-year-old brother, a former member of the 11- to 14-year-old soccer team, who said he witnessed the abuse. They also testified that Colman showed the boys pornographic movies during the April incident.
The boys said they didn't tell anyone about the alleged abuse until more than a month later because they feared what Colman would do to them. On cross-examination, however, his defense attorney, Martin Geduldig of Hicksville, confirmed that the boys continued to play on Colman's soccer team after the sleepover.
The police were notified of the incidents last May by the mother of one of the boys. Colman was arrested May 17.
Jurors interviewed after the trial said that it was Colman who helped himself out. The coach admitted under oath that he hugged and kissed the boys on the cheeks, but that he never touched them on or around their genitals or kissed them on the mouth, as they had claimed.
The jury also said that the county's case was weak on facts, with little medical evidence to go on and testimony that didn't add up to a conviction. They believed Colman was direct with his testimony, which put most of them on his side. They deliberated for four days because some of the jurors felt uncomfortable about letting Colman off completely, acknowledging that his actions with the children were "inappropriate."
Turkin said afterward that he was "extremely disappointed" with the decision, adding, "I don't think the right thing happened."
Geduldig called the decision "a good compromise and a good verdict."
Colman had faced four counts of first-degree sodomy, six counts of first-degree sexual abuse and the two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Had he been convicted, he would have faced up to 50 years in prison.
Colman could not be reached for comment, but now faces the 19 charges in Queens County based on the allegations of six boys, including the two he was charged with molesting in Nassau. Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said an investigation indicated that the coach had molested the boys, ranging in age from 11 to 14, during soccer team trips last year that involved overnight stays at two Queens hotels, the Best Western on Corona Avenue in Flushing and the Clarion Hotel on Ditmars Boulevard in East Elmhurst. The indictment was filed last January in the Queens County Supreme Court.
If convicted, Colman faces consecutive sentences of more than 100 years in prison.
"These are serious charges which allege that a soccer team coach betrayed the trust of his young players and their parents who had entrusted their children to his care, supervision and welfare," said Brown. "This case will be prosecuted swiftly and fairly, with the special needs of these traumatized child victims being my paramount concern."
The former construction worker had already been banned from coaching for the Forest Hills-based Argentina Soccer League. In addition, one of the boys' mother has filed a civil lawsuit seeking millions of dollars in damages against Colman.
