BOSTON (AP) — A former Olympian and longtime observe coach pleaded responsible Thursday to fees of sexually molesting young boys whereas working at a sports activities camp in western Massachusetts within the Nineteen Seventies.
Conrad Mainwaring, who was a hurdler for Antigua and Barbuda within the 1976 Summer season Olympics in Montreal, confronted 12 counts of indecent assault and battery on a toddler over 14 and 4 counts of indecent assault and battery on a toddler underneath 14 in Berkshire Superior Court docket. The fees concerned 9 male victims.
In a sample that repeated itself over time, prosecutors detailed case after case by which Mainwaring leveraged his Olympic credentials as a part of a grooming approach used on boys attending Camp Greylock, making the children imagine that the sexual assault would make them higher athletes. The abuse occurred within the woods across the camp, in a van and close to a tennis court docket amongst different locations.
After particulars of the circumstances have been offered, Mainwaring, in a wheelchair and sporting a masks, mentioned “sure” when requested by the decide if he dedicated the offenses specified by court docket. He then mentioned “responsible” after every of the costs was learn out.
Mainwaring, a 72-year-old Los Angeles resident and United Kingdom nationwide, molested campers from 1975 to 1979 whereas working as a counselor at Camp Greylock in Becket. Authorities have mentioned they imagine there are “many different victims” in a number of states and out of doors the USA.
A few of the camp victims — who have been as younger as 13 and as previous as 19 — testified at Thursday’s listening to, recalling the disgrace and the harm the abuse has brought about them. One sufferer known as Mainwaring a hazard to younger males, calling for an extended jail sentence, arguing that he be evaded boys or younger males and barred from teaching.
Massachusetts authorities began investigating Mainwaring following a 2019 ESPN report by which greater than 50 males alleged they have been abused by him, a few of them at Camp Greylock. He was arrested in 2021 on a fugitive warrant as he left a Los Angeles County courthouse after a plea in a separate case from 2019.
“Everybody who introduced Conrad Mainwaring to justice deserves our thanks, together with regulation enforcement, the district legal professional, the journalists at ESPN, and particularly the brave males who shared their tales deserve probably the most gratitude,” mentioned Saul Wolf, an legal professional whose agency represents seven victims and filed lawsuits in opposition to Syracuse College in New York, the Syracuse college district and the Massachusetts camp.
“Now that Mainwaring intends to enter a responsible plea and take duty, it’s time for Syracuse College and Camp Greylock to just accept duty and be held accountable,” he added.
