The hockey coach accused this week of soliciting sex from teenage boys spent decades coaching for high schools and youth sports leagues across southeastern Massachusetts, including in Taunton.
Anthony DeSilva, 41, a coach and general manager of the Massachusetts Maple Leafs junior hockey club, was arrested Wednesday night after an investigation that stretches back to July. DeSilva allegedly sent naked pictures of himself to the teenage boys ? who were actually undercover detectives ? and told them in explicit detail what he wanted to do with them sexually, authorities said.
Abusing a position of authority to prey on children is very common among sexual predators, said Michelle Loranger, executive director of the Children?s Advocacy Center of Bristol County.
?Over 90 percent of all victims are abused by adults in life they know, love and trust, and that includes family members and people in positions of authority,? Loranger said. ?We know that some people who make choices to engage in this type of behavior have had affiliations with youth or religious organizations.?
Last year, DeSilva served as a varsity assistant coach for the Taunton High School hockey team. The decision not to bring him back was finalized before the allegations against DeSilva were made, Taunton schools Superintendent Julie Hackett said.
Taunton school officials say they are unaware of any inappropriate conduct stemming from DeSilva?s stint as an assistant hockey coach at Taunton High last year but will conduct an investigation and notify law enforcement if any criminal allegations surface.
Hackett said the well-being of the students is her top priority, and she urged parents and students to notify administration of ?any issues that may require further investigation.? Counselors will be available.
?Guidance counselors and social adjustment counselors can be there to facilitate a discussion if needed and to add extra support to process what?s happening,? she said. ?Or if an incident is brought to our attention, they can add support.?
DeSilva?s biography on the Massachusetts Maple Leafs? website says he also had assistant coaching stints with Bishop Stang High School, Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School and Fairhaven High School during the 1980s and early '90s.
Officials at Fairhaven High School and GNB Voc-Tech did not return multiple messages Friday seeking comment.
John Kearns, spokesman for the Diocese of Fall River, said DeSilva served as an assistant baseball and hockey coach at Bishop Stang High School from March 16, 1998, to Sept. 30, 2004. Kearns said that the Bishop Stang High School administration has reviewed school records and found no complaints or allegations regarding inappropriate conduct by DeSilva toward any of the school?s student-athletes.
?The safety of all students enrolled in a Catholic school in the Fall River Diocese is of paramount concern,? said Kearns, who added that all school employees and volunteers with the diocese must undergo criminal background checks and complete abuse-prevention training.
DeSilva was also the general manager and manager of the Middleboro Bolts of the Cranberry Baseball League from October 2004 through August, said Joe Paolucci, president of the Cranberry Baseball League. Paolucci said the league had no further comment because officials were just learning of the allegations against DeSilva.
The legal process
Nobody answered the phone at DeSilva?s Acushnet residence Friday. DeSilva?s mother, Gladys DeSilva, told WCVB on Friday that her son lived at home with her and that she was in shock.
?The kids always loved him. I don?t know what to think,? she said.
But Peter Simmons, 28, said he was not shocked to hear of DeSilva?s arrest. Simmons said DeSilva was an assistant coach on an American Legion baseball team in Dartmouth that Simmons played on in the early 2000s.
?I never liked the guy and never got along with him,? said Simmons, who remembered hearing stories about DeSilva allegedly inviting underage players to drink beer with him, though Simmons added that he did not witness that firsthand.
Gregg Miliote, spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney?s Office, said DeSilva left the Ash Street Jail in New Bedford on Friday to be transported to Polk County, Fla., where he will likely be arraigned next week on 10 counts of use of a computer to seduce a child and one count of transmission of material harmful to a child.
Carrie Eleazer, a spokeswoman for the Polk County Sheriff?s Office, said she expected DeSilva to arrive in Florida sometime late Friday night.
During a press conference Thursday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters in Florida that DeSilva was ?trolling Facebook for children.? He said the investigation began after one of the 16-year-old boys? mothers reported that a man named ?Tony? was trying to solicit her son online.
?We received a call from this mother who said, ?Hey, there?s this weirdo, and he?s trying to say nasty things to my children on Facebook,'? Judd said.
Massachusetts State Police troopers, working with Acushnet police officers and sheriff?s deputies from Polk County arrested DeSilva on Wednesday evening at his home at 23 Fairfield St., Acushnet. Judd said DeSilva told the deputies that he was not familiar with Polk County.
?We said, ?You will be. We?re gonna take you to jail, and lock you up there,?? said Judd, who compared DeSilva?s case to that of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State University assistant football coach who is serving a life sentence after being convicted in June of molesting children.
?(DeSilva) used sports to lure these kids. Does that sound familiar?? Judd said.
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