SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A prison inmate who was one of four men to accuse a former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach of sexual abuse when they were children has admitted that he made up his claim.
The accuser, Floyd VanHooser, wrote in a letter that he lied to police and in December interviews with The Associated Press and The Post-Standard newspaper of Syracuse. He said he wanted to get back at the coach, Bernie Fine, because Fine did not hire a lawyer to help VanHooser fight a criminal conviction.
Fine had helped raise the 56-year-old VanHooser after his parents died.
Two other men, former Syracuse ball boys in the 1980s, accused Fine last year of abusing them as children, but the statute of limitations has expired. Fine was fired Nov. 27 after they came forward, ending 35-plus years as an assistant at Syracuse.
Fine, 66, has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged. Fine’s attorney, Karl Sleight, declined to comment Sunday. A federal investigation is ongoing.
VanHooser is serving 16 years to life at Clinton state prison near the Canadian border for several burglaries of Syracuse-area homes. He was sentenced in October as a persistent felony burglar.
