James Riverso gets six months in jail and 10 years probation for sending the text messages.
View full sizeJames Riverso was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years probation for sending sexually explicit text messages to three underage girls.Syracuse, NY - Former Le Moyne College women’s soccer coach James A. Riverso was sentenced today to 10 years’ probation and six months in jail for sending sexually explicit text messages to three underage girls.
“I’d just like to say I’m very sorry to the victims, to the court and to my family,” Riverso told state Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti.
The victims and their relatives were not in court as some had been when Riverso, 29, of 366 Craigie St., Syracuse, pleaded guilty May 14 to three felony counts of first-degree disseminating indecent material to a minor.
In pleading guilty, Riverso admitted sending sexually explicit text messages – also known as sexting – to the three girls between July and December 2008. Authorities said the victims all knew Riverso from the youth soccer club he coached and the case had nothing to do with his coaching career at Le Moyne College.
Assistant District Attorney Daniel Barry said the community is now a safer plce knowing that Riverso is a convicted sexual offender.
Defense lawyer Emil Rossi focused his comments on Riverso’s assets, noting he had lived an “exemplary life” and had a very successful career as an educator and a coach.
As he left court following sentencing, Barry noted the case just showed that someone “can be a good coach, lead an exemplary life and still be a sex offender.”
The prosecutor said the case should serve as a warning to youth coaches not to overstep the bounds of their relationship with children. It also should serve as a warning to parents to keep a close watch on what their children are doing in this age of text messaging and sexting, Barry said.
The prosecutor said there was sometime “eerily similar” in the manner in which Riverso established an inappropriate relationship with each of the three victims.
Each started with innocent text messaging that soon developed into text messages of a sexually suggestive nature, Barry said. In two of the cases, that sexting went even further with Riverso engaging in sexual conduct with the two girls, the prosecutor said.
Riverso had been facing 16 counts of disseminating indecent material to a minor, 20 counts of endangering the welfare of a child and four counts of third-degree sexual abuse. All charges were satisfied by his guilty plea to the three felony charges, each of which could have sent him to state prison for seven years.
Riverso initially was arrested by Baldwinsville police in May 2009 after one of the 16-year-old girls told her parents about the text messages and the parents contacted authorities. State police got involved when two more girls then came forward with similar accusations and allegations that Riverso met them at various locations in his car for sexual encounters.
In pleading guilty, Riverso made no specific admission to any sexual conduct with any of the victims.
But the convictions require him to register as a convicted sex offender when he is released after serving the jail portion of his sentence at the Onondaga County Correctional Facility in Jamesville. State Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti scheduled a hearing for Sept. 8 to determine what level of sex offender Riverso will be rated.
Rossi said Riverso’s conduct was a complete contradiction to the regular life he led. In fact, the defense lawyer said he didn’t think he’d ever before encountered such a disparity between a client’s regular life and “a compartment in that life” like that which landed Riverso in court.
Rossi said Riverso has been undergoing counseling for more than a year as a result of his arrest.
Barry said one unfortunate part of the case is that some people have tried to blame the girls for what happened. They were victims who were taken advantage of by a person they trusted, he said.
After his arrest in the case last year, Riverso was initially placed on unpaid administrative leave by Le Moyne College. He later resigned.