Spadaccini enters guilty plea

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About three months after leading the baseball team at Neumann-Goretti High School, 1736 S. 10th St., to its second City and Catholic League titles under his tenure, Louis Spadaccini was arrested for drugging a boy and rearrested days later when another boy came forward with a similar story that also included accusations of sexual assault.

Spadaccini, 38, of the 2600 block of South Iseminger Street, pled guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors and furnishing alcohol to a minor; and one count of forcible compulsion, indecent assault and possession with intent to deliver Sept. 26 and agreed to a sentence of 12 to 24 years in jail and five years on probation. His bail was revoked and he will be formerly sentenced next year, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

“Spadaccini used his position as a baseball coach at Neumann-Goretti High School to prey on these two young victims,” according to a District Attorney’s Office press release.

In July of 2011, Spadaccini, who started as the team’s assistant coach in ’07 before becoming its head coach a year later, took a 13-year-old boy to his Lower Moyamensing home where he provided the victim an orange soda and vodka concoction before fondling the youngster and exposing himself to him, according to the release. The following month the same sequence of events occurred at the Holiday Inn, 900 Packer Ave., with the same minor.

Then Spadaccini picked up a different boy, a 14-year-old, from his home at 4:45 p.m. Sept. 18, ’11 and transported him to the Holiday Inn where he supplied him with beer and mixed drinks, which were prepared in the bathroom out of the boy’s sight, according to the release and police. After he had a few drinks, including an orange soda, vodka and Xanax blend, the victim’s parents repeatedly called and texted him. Spadaccini dropped the youngster off at his residence at 8:30 p.m. His parents, thinking he was intoxicated, took him to the hospital where tests revealed benzodiazepines in his blood.

Spadaccini was arrested Sept. 19, ’11 and admitted to police he put the Xanax in the boy’s drink without his knowledge.

“Spadaccini also admitted to police that he gave [the] boy the alcohol and Xanax to try and render him unconscious,” according to the release.

He posted part of the $15,000 bail amount Sept. 20, ‘11, but was rearrested two days later when the younger victim came forward with the sexual assault accusations. His bail for that case was $2 million, which he did not post.

“We’re just really shocked,” John Murawski, the school’s president, said after the arrests. “The community as a whole just feels betrayed. This [was] a well-respected and beloved member of our athletic program.”

Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.

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