By Ivan Pereira
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Rochdale Village Little League coach’s years of alleged sexual misconduct has cost the team its season this year, the police said.
Detective Richard Santangelo of the Queens Special Victims Squad paid a visit to the 113th Precinct’s community council meeting Monday night to update residents about the case against David C. Hartshorn, who has been charged with several sex crimes against minors by the Queens district attorney’s office.
Hartshorn was the coach of the housing complex’s Little League and allegedly brought several of his players to his house and touched them inappropriately and had them perform sexual acts that were secretly videotaped, according to the detective.
Despite being imprisoned more than 20 years ago for sexually abusing kids, the coach was still allowed to lead the team and kept taking advantage of the boys for years, according to Santangelo.
“He manipulated children for a long time. He was a professional,” he said.
Due to Hartshorn’s arrest, the Rochdale board of directors did not renew its application with the Little League this year, according to the detective. Little League Baseball confirmed that Rochdale did not renew its application.
The board did not return phone calls for comment.
Hartshorn was incarcerated in 1989 after he was arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child, but at the time there was no sex offender list and he slipped through the cracks during background checks for the league, according to the detective.
State Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) is working on legislation to close loopholes for earlier sex offenders.
Hartshorn’s alleged abuse against Rochdale players came to light after some of the boys told their parents about his reported activity and the police were eventually involved.
The coach, who was arrested and charged last month, allegedly committed several sexual acts on three teen boys over the last two years, including one in which he had them play a game of poker and the loser would perform sexual acts with another, the DA’s office said.
Santangelo said police found several hidden cameras inside Hartshorn’s home that allegedly videotaped the perverted activity between the coach and the players.
“There are numerous cases where the kids … don’t know they were being videotaped,” he said.
Hartshorn has been remanded and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Despite numerous pieces of evidence, including several child pornographic videotapes, Santangelo said the case is far from over.
He and his fellow investigators are still going over the tapes to identify the boys.
The detective asked the community to come to the precinct if they know anyone who spent time with Hartshorn — especially if they visited his house frequently.
“If we can put a name to a face on a video, we can put him away for more years,” he said.
