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Louis Spadaccini walked in the courtroom with his hands cuffed in front of him and glanced toward his family before sitting in his seat at the defense table around 10:30 a.m. Monday.
The former baseball coach at Neumann-Goretti High School, 1736 S. 10th St., had pled guilty Sept. 26, 2012 to drugging and indecently assaulting a boy he had known for years, as well as drugging an incoming Saints’ freshman until his mother demanded his return home.
“Through her diligence and perseverance that night, [she] stopped this monster from continuing this life of disgusted shame,” the father of a victim, then 14, said of his wife.
Spadaccini’s family members and friends pleaded that Judge Ronald C. Nagle not send him too far away, so relatives, including his son, could visit, and Spadaccini’s lawyer, Tariq Karim El-Shabazz, noted his prior benefits to the community.
“If we want to be honest with ourselves, hundreds of young men came under the tutelage of Mr. Spadaccini with no allegations of any foul play, and now in fact, are successful not only in college, some are in the minor leagues,” he said referring to former Saints, such as Mark Donato, whom the Kansas City Royals drafted last year, and Mike Zolk, a University of North Carolina sophomore.
After a friend, whose husband met Spadaccini, 38, of the 2600 block of South Iseminger Street, in recovery, mentioned his struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, his attorney noted addiction alters one’s personality, resulting in abnormal actions.
“Drugs and alcohol don’t make you rape boys,” Assistant District Attorney Joseph McGlynn, who represented the victims, along with Assistant District Attorney Branwen McNabb, said, noting the pair were not the only ones Spadaccini abused.
Naming both boys, Spadaccini apologized and admitted his embarrassment.
“I just want to tell everyone in this room how truly sorry I am for my actions,” he said. “I tried my whole life to help people, and I honestly failed in a big way.”
Although Chester County’s Nagle, who presided over the case since Spadaccini had worked at the Criminal Justice Center as courtroom operations staffer, said it’s not possible to know what’s in a man’s heart, he didn’t buy the presented rationale.
“I must tell you, sir, it is an inadequate explanation from the court’s viewpoint, from this judge’s viewpoint,” he said. “What you did in these instances requires a certain degree of planning and conniving, and as one of the parents said, a nurturing of young boys to put yourself in a position of trust. … You have betrayed one of the most important trust that can be given to any human being in what you did.”
Nagle officially sentenced Spadaccini to the negotiated deal of 12 to 24 years in prison followed by five years of probation and a lifetime as a sex offender’s registrant for two counts of corruption of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child and furnishing liquor to a minor, as well as a count of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, indecent assault and possession of narcotics. He will receive credit for the 16 months he already has served, and Nagle agreed to recommend him to Chester state prison where he can receive drug and alcohol treatment. He may not have unsupervised contact with children except for his son.
Spadaccini had picked up the 14-year-old boy from his home Sept. 18, ’11 and took him to the Holiday Inn, 900 Packer Ave., where he provided drinks, such as an orange soda, vodka and Xanax blend. His parents’ constant calling and texting resulted in Spadaccini’s returning the boy home about four hours later. The teen spent the next three days at the hospital where blood tests came back positive for benzodiazepines.
“I will never trust again – ever, ever,” the boy’s mother said. “It took a complete stranger to quickly discover and uncover Spadaccini as the real monster that he really is. I’m proud of myself for that and for [the other victim’s] mother, for our motherly intuition that kicked in and enabled us to put a stop to this — that’s been roaming around the ball fields, streets and parks of South Philly for way too long.”
Spadaccini’s reputation was what convinced the boy’s parents to enroll him at the school, as they had heard of his push for academics and compassion, but afterward they wanted him to go elsewhere. However, the boy’s teammates and their parents urged them to stay, which wasn’t easy.
“He’s the one being whispered about as he climbed the front steps at Neumann that first day,” his father said. “He’s the one who got Coach Lou fired.”
Spadaccini was arrested Sept. 19, posted bail and was released, but police rearrested him the next day after another boy came forward with more serious accusations.
“We learned that our son had been drugged, given significant amounts of alcohol and sexually molested on three different occasions — not by a stranger, but our friend and well-regarded baseball coach whose own son plays baseball with our youngest son,” the mother of the boy who was assaulted said.
Spadaccini, who had known the victim for about four years, complimented his baseball skills, invited him to join Saints’ practices and encouraged him to enroll at Neumann-Goretti.
“I felt like I was special because I was practicing with his team since I was in the fifth grade,” the now 15-year-old said in a pre-written statement that McGlynn read to the court. “It was just a great feeling to be practicing with one of the best teams around, especially with Lou as the coach. He was probably one of the coolest guys I knew, but he let all of us down.”
On July 24, Aug. 11 and Aug. 21 ’11, according to court records, the then-13-year-old boy was with Spadaccini, who supplied him with about six shots of whipped cream vodka on one occasion.
“When our son said ‘no,’ and didn’t want to drink, he called him a ‘punk,’” his mother said.
Wondering why his mentor wanted to harm him caused confusion, and their close relationship made it even tougher for him to come forward, he said.
“I didn’t want to get him in trouble because I thought he would be mad, the kids on his team would be mad at me and his family would be mad at me, but most of all, I didn’t want to tell at first because I cared [for] him as a person and as a coach,” McGlynn said, reading the boy’s statement.
The teen decided not to enroll at Neumann-Goretti as a result of Spadaccini, and is now a freshman at another city Catholic school.
“It was really bad,” he said of seeing how upset his parents were upon learning of Spadaccini’s misconduct, “but I think I saved a lot of kids from Coach Lou. … So I just want to say that Coach Lou didn’t bring me down, he brought himself down.”
The Review has omitted victims’ and their parents’ names to protect their identities.
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
In this week’s Police Report:
Dieting on dollars
Six-figure score
Chemical chaos
Failed holdup
Unfriendly fracture
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