By Daniel Massey
An official from a Forest Hills soccer school in jail since May for allegedly sexually abusing two 11-year-old players in Nassau County was charged last Thursday with sodomizing six young footballers during overnight stays at two Queens hotels last year, authorities said.
Fernando Colman, 36, a construction worker from Long Island who served as vice president of the Argentina Soccer School in Forest Hills, is accused of sodomizing and sexually abusing the six boys during team trips, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Colman was already being held in Nassau County in lieu of $110,000 bail on charges of sodomizing two of the same players at his home on Ludlum Avenue in Elmont, where he lived with his parents.
In a 19-count indictment, Queens prosecutors charged Colman with sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, he faces consecutive sentences of more than 100 years in jail.
“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,” Brown said.
The soccer team, which was based at 67-50 Thornton Place in Forest Hills, was made up of 54 players, including boys from Corona, Elmhurst, Flushing, Jamaica and other parts of Queens.
Colman chaperoned the boys for about two years on road trips to and from soccer tournaments throughout New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
According to a mother of two players who did not want her name used, the school split up once the allegations against Colman became public and the boys splintered off to other leagues.
The investigation began in April when a young soccer player told his mother he had been molested by Colman at Colman’s house in Elmont. Nassau County police arrested the league vice president on charges of sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child for abusing two 11-year-old boys, according to a report filed by Nassau Police Detective Sgt. Louis Algieri.
A further investigation uncovered allegations that Colman abused six players, aged 11-14, between January and April 2001 at the Best Western Hotel in Flushing and the Clarion Hotel in East Elmhurst.
The construction worker’s attorney, Martin Geduldig, said he had yet to see the indictment or talk to Colman, but that his client would plead not guilty.
He said he was puzzled by the amount of time that had passed since the initial charges were lodged in Nassau County.
“It strikes me as kind of strange that so many months have gone by,” he said. “I’m troubled by the fact that the two boys from Nassau are also named in the Queens indictment. It sounds as if they’re trying to make this case as bad as they can make it for purposes of extracting a plea.”
Brown said Colman would first stand trial in Nassau County and that his office would then prosecute the case “swiftly and fairly” with the needs of the “traumatized victims” being his primary concern.
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
